


Sexy Boy

by charming1



Series: Sexy Boy/Now and Forever [1]
Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2013-09-17
Packaged: 2017-12-26 21:36:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charming1/pseuds/charming1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brian Kinney is a successful 33-year-old advertising executive from Pittsburg who is spending a week in Manhattan in hopes of landing the most important client of his career. Justin Taylor is a 21-year-old struggling artist living in Chelsea who hopes to make it big. What happens when the handsome ad man meets the sexy blonde Picasso?</p><p>**ANTI-MICHAEL**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Free Bird

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Queer as Folk and its characters are the property of Cowlip and Showtime. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> This was inspired by one of my favorite movies, Pretty Woman. No infringement is intended.
> 
> I have never been to Manhattan, so my geography might not be completely accurate. I am not at all affiliated with any of the business I mention in this story.
> 
> "Now and Forever" follows this story up, six months later.
> 
> This was my first attempt at AU.

“Could we please talk about this when I get back? I don’t have time to deal with this shit right now,” Brian Kinney growled into his cell phone.

“That’s just it, Brian, you don’t have time for anything… most of all, me!” shrieked the man on the other end. “You always expect me to drop everything for you, but you never do the same for me!”

“I… I gotta go, Mikey. We’re at the hotel now,” Brian replied curtly, as he looked out the window of the limousine.

He had flown into LaGuardia Airport over an hour before and planned to spend the week in Manhattan on business, returning to Pittsburg on Sunday. He always stayed at The Palace Hotel because of the close proximity to the business and shopping districts. Traffic en route the hotel had been a nightmare.

“You just wait one minute,  _Mr. Kinney_! I…”

“Michael! I’ll call you back later, okay? Fuck!” Brian stated roughly, his patience wearing very thin. He couldn’t help but think that deciding to begin a romance with Michael Novotny, the man that had been his best friend since high school, had been the biggest mistake of his life.

Brian, who had never had a serious relationship before, had been consoling his friend a few months ago after his partner, Professor Ben Bruckner, had cheated on him with one of his students. One minute they were laying on the shaggy white rug in Brian’s loft, sharing a pizza and a bong, and the next thing Brian knew, Michael was unzipping Brian’s jeans. Brian always knew that Michael had wanted more than just platonic friendship with his handsome best friend, but Brian had always rebuffed any of Michael’s past advances. As he had feared, after spending one night with Michael, their friendship had drastically changed. Other than fear losing his best friend over a fuck, Brian gave into Michael’s desire for a real relationship with him. Over the past few weeks, Michael was proving to be more trouble than he was worth.

Michael dramatically signed into the phone. “Fine, I’ll talk to you later then. Love you.”

“Uh… yeah, me too,” Brian uttered quickly before closing his phone. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his blood pressure back down to normal. The chauffer opened up the car door for the group.

“Ready, boss?” Cynthia, Brian’s executive assistant, asked from across the limo. Cynthia had proven to be a very valuable employee over the years and Brian never went on a business trip without the petite, blonde woman.

Brian looked up at her and replied, “Yep, let’s get this party started.” Brian put his phone in his suit jacket pocket and stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the hotel’s entrance. Ted, Brian’s accountant and good friend, climbed out of the car after him, followed by Cynthia and Jared Byrd, one of Brian’s advertising associates.

The chauffer was pulling his passenger’s suitcases out of the trunk of the limo while a bellman loaded the luggage onto a cart.

The bellman looked up at Brian and stated, “Welcome back to the Palace, Mr. Kinney.”

“Thank you, uh…” Brian looked at the man’s nametag. “Chris.” He flashed Chris his Million Dollar Kinney smile, causing the young man to blush. Brian then remembered having a previous tryst with this cute bellman on his last trip to the Big Apple. He distinctly remembered the guy having a pink birthmark on his right butt cheek. Brian snickered at the memory.

The four began to make their way into the hotel and walked towards the front desk to check in. Brian felt Ted come up to his right, asking him, “Uh, was everything okay with Michael? I couldn’t help but overhear…”

“Everything is fine, Theodore. I don’t pay you to pry into my personal life; I pay you to take care of my money. So just mind your own fucking business, huh?” Brian snarled to Ted in a hushed voice.

Brian, along with Michael and their friend, Emmett, knew that Ted used to have a crush on Michael, so naturally, the accountant would be curious about his relationship with him.

A few minutes later, Cynthia handed Brian an envelope containing his room keys. “Alright, you’re in room 4208… asshole.” Cynthia laughed, as that was a suite. She knew her boss always insisted on traveling in fine style, sparing no expense for his comfort. She continued, “Ted is in 3611, I’m in 3616, and Jared is in 3620.” She handed the other two men their keys. “The meeting room we reserved is ready for us; I have the keys to that. Shall we go up to our rooms to freshen up, and then meet in your room to find some lunch, say,” she paused to look at her Christian Dior watch that Brian gave to her for Christmas last year, “at noon?”

“Sounds good, huh, guys?” Brian looked at the other two men, who were nodding back at their boss. Brian observed that Ted had a troubled look on his face, obviously still wondering about the one-sided phone conversation he heard in the limo.

Ted, who was a recovering crystal meth addict, was still mourning his break up with his last boyfriend, Blake. The thirty-seven year old accountant couldn’t help but feel jealous of Brian’s relationship with Michael. Actually, Ted couldn’t help but feel jealous of Brian, period. Ted looked at his physically striking boss, who was dressed in an impeccable gray Armani suit, which surely cost more than what Ted made in a week. A gold Rolex sparkled from under the cuff of his left sleeve. Ted looked down at his own off-the-rack, no-brand tan suit he was wearing. Ted once owned a Rolex, but had to pawn it after being forced by the District Attorney’s office to close down his porno website.

Next to Brian Kinney, Ted Schmidt was wallpaper.

The group began to walk toward the elevators when Brian’s cell phone began to play the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” With a groan, he pulled it out of his pocket while he stepped onto the elevator. The display showed him that Debbie, Michael’s meddlesome mother, was calling. Brian pressed a button on the side of his phone to ignore the call, knowing that Deb was most likely calling to bitch at him for being rude to her precious son earlier.

After the phone was silenced, “Midnight Train to Georgia” could be heard playing on the elevator’s speaker overhead. Cynthia sang the “woo-woo” part out loud with a giggle. Jared lightly laughed with her.

Brian glanced over at the good-looking thirty year old ad man and noticed how he was looking at Cynthia with a sparkle in his eye.

 _Hmm…_ Brian wondered,  _I know that guy is straight and Cynthia hasn’t been on a date in forever… but hopefully, nothing funny is going on there…_

The elevator binged and opened to the thirty-second floor, where Ted, Cynthia, and Jared emerged.

“See ya in a bit, Brian,” Cynthia called over her shoulder as the three of them began walking down the hall to their rooms.

The doors closed once more, and Brian rode up the other twelve floors with Gladys Knight and The Pips serenading him. The elevator doors opened and Brian stepped out, with Chris the bellman following him with the luggage cart.

“Have a wonderful afternoon, sir,” the elderly elevator attendant said to Brian.

“Thank you,” Brian replied as he turned to walk to his room. He made it to room 4208 and opened the door with one of his key cards, entering the lavish suite with the nearly-drooling bellman on his heels.

Brian’s cell phone beeped, indicating that Deb had left a voicemail. Ignoring it, Brian showed Chris which of the suitcases on the cart were his and glanced at Chris’s round ass while he put his three bags on the floor.

Brian rarely ever went back for seconds, but he figured that it didn’t hurt to look.

“Where would you want these, Mr. Kinney?” Chris asked in a sultry voice. “The bedroom?”

“Uh, yeah, that would be fine.” Brian picked up the suit bag while Chris extracted the handle from the rolling case, and then picked up the third hard case.

Chris led the way into the bedroom of the suite, sitting the two cases on the bench at the foot of the bed. Chris looked over at Brian, who sat the suit bag on the bed. “Thanks,” Brian stated, as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Brian pulled out a twenty dollar bill and held it out to Chris.

Chris looked at the bill in Brian’s hand, confused.

“I’m sure the others are expecting their bags,” Brian said sharply, thereby excusing the hotel employee from his room.

Chris took the bill, gave Brian a nod of his head, and walked out of the room.

Brian sighed when he heard the suite’s door close, stating out loud, “It’s so hard to find good help these days.”

* * *

The foursome was shown their table at the upscale restaurant they chose for lunch, Eleven Madison Park. After ordering their meals, Brian looked around at the beautiful dining room they were seated in. The sun was shining through the tall windows, lighting up the otherwise sparsely lit room. Brian had eaten there before when a previous client took him to dinner after signing their business contract.

Suddenly, “Free Bird” began to play in Brian’s pocket again. Taking the phone out and looking at the display, Brian swore under his breath. It was Debbie, again. Brian once again pressed the button on the side of his phone, cutting the song off.

“Was that the little woman, Bri?” Cynthia asked, snickering.

Jared chuckled with her as Ted sniffed in mild amusement.

“No, but I’m so glad you all find my relationship woes so entertaining,” Brian replied.

Just then, a loud crashing noise came from the kitchen, followed by muffled yelling. A few seconds later, a stunning twenty-something year old blonde man wearing a server’s uniform stomped out of the kitchen.

“Fuck you, Jerry!” the blonde yelled as he marched out of the restaurant in a huff, throwing his apron down on the carpet.

A heavy-set man wearing all black walked out of the kitchen a moment later, anxiously looking around the dining room. “Uh, I’m sorry about that, folks. Everything’s fine, we have everything under control.” He walked over and picked up the discarded apron, then turned around and returned to the kitchen.

“What the hell was that about?” Ted asked no one in particular, shaking his head. “So Brian, once we get back to the hotel, we need to get the equipment set up in the meeting room. We need to see if we have any messages that need to be returned… Brian?”

Although he was long gone by now, Brian was still looking in the direction that the blonde had left. He wasn’t wondering what had caused the attractive young man to leave the restaurant angry; he was wondering  _who_ that beautiful man was and where the hell he ran off to. Just picturing how the man’s black pants had stretched across his generous backside was causing Brian’s dress pants to stretch snugly across his front.

Suddenly, Ted waved his hand in front of Brian’s face. “Brian?”

“Yes, Theodore?” Brian asked in an annoyed tone.

 _Am I gonna have to fire Princess Crystal’s ass today?_ Brian wondered to himself.

“I said that when we get back to The Palace, we need to get the meeting room set up so we can hook up with the Pittsburg office remotely.”

“Uh,  _we_ don’t need to do shit.  _You_ need to get everything hooked up… that’s why I brought the three of you on this trip, remember?  _I_ will be in the spa, thank you very much.”

Their server then brought out a large tray bearing the group’s lunches as the beautiful blonde came storming back in to the restaurant, a burning cigarette held in his left hand. He flung open the door to the kitchen, striding back in defiantly. A minute later, the man crashed through the door once again, this time carrying a black messenger bag slung over his shoulder and wearing a blue denim jacket.

Brian sat his fork down and reached out to grab the blonde’s arm as he was sauntering by their table.

“Hey, what seems to be the problem here?” Brian asked as the blonde stared down at him in alarm, his blue eyes glistening in the sunlight.

The blonde stood there with his mouth agape for a moment before he answered, “Uh, I just quit my job because my boss is an asshole.”

“Really?” Brian crooned to the blonde and plucked the cigarette out of his hand. Brian took a puff off of it and handed it back to him.

Once again, the heavy-set man emerged from the kitchen, where he quickly caught sight of the blonde. “Taylor, I thought I told you to get out of here,” the man said sternly.

The blonde pulled his arm out of Brian’s grasp, looking back at the man who spoke to him. “Yeah, I was just leaving.”

The blonde took one last puff off of his cigarette before dropping it onto the carpet, snubbing it with the toe of his black shoe. He looked back at Brian with a grin on his boyishly handsome face and left the dining room once more, blowing smoke into the air. A well-dressed elderly woman at a nearby table looked at the kid in disgust, waving her hand over her head to dissipate the smoke.

The heavy-set man walked over to Brian’s table. “Sir, was that young man bothering you?” 

Brian, who was once again watching in awe at the retreating blonde, looked up at the man and replied, “No… not at all. Jerry, was it?”

The man nodded. “Yes, I’m the kitchen manager.” Jerry looked down at the cigarette butt crushed into the carpet in annoyance. “I’m so sorry about the outburst earlier. That kid no longer works at this restaurant.” Jerry bent down and picked up the butt, happy to see that it did not leave a burn on the carpet.

Brian frowned and drawled, “Oh… what a shame.”

Cynthia giggled in response to Brian’s audacity. She saw the way that Brian had looked at the blonde; he practically undressed the poor kid with his eyes.  

Jerry sighed before saying, “No, it’s not, really. I can’t count the number of plates the guy has dropped since he started working here… anyway, if there is anything we can do to make your dining experience here at  _Eleven Madison Park_ more enjoyable, please let us know.”

Ted quickly spoke up, “Uh, how about some crème brule?”

Brian looked at his accountant and chuckled, “Oh, Theodore, you’re so adorable.” He then looked back at Jerry and said, “No, we’re just fine here, thank you.”

Jerry stuck his beefy hand out at Brian, and Brian cordially shook the man’s hand. After Jerry left to return to the kitchen, Ted exclaimed, “Well, shit Brian, when a restaurant manager says, ‘If there’s anything we can do for you,’ that’s code for ‘would you like some free dessert?’”

Jared laughed and said, “I think Brian’s idea of dessert just walked out of the building, right, boss?”

Brian looked at Jared, surprised that he would have the gall to make a remark like that. The man had only been working for Brian for a few months, and this was one of the few times Brian had ever seen him outside of the office. Brian didn’t know him very well, but before his last statement he had found the man to be very dull, but pretty good at his job.

Impressed with Jared’s accurate observation, Brian clicked his tongue and winked at him.

Jared smiled back at his boss, mentally patting himself on the back.


	2. When I Think of You

Justin Taylor stepped off of the bus and began walking the two blocks over to his apartment in Chelsea. He had calmed down significantly since walking out of his job earlier, but he wasn’t really thinking about that. Sure, his half of the rent was going to be very tough to come up with at the end of the month, and quitting his job with no notice without anything else lined up was really fucking dumb, but he had other things on his mind- one thing, or rather, person in particular.

Justin thought back to his brief meeting with what was most likely the most gorgeous man he had ever seen in his life. He did not see the man when he had stormed out of the restaurant the first time, but at that point, he just wanted to get the fuck out of there. Once Justin gotten outside and lit a cigarette to calm his nerves, he noticed that he had left without grabbing his messenger bag and jacket. He thought about finishing his cigarette outside, but figured what the hell? He had already quit, so he just brought it in with him.

He had been so intent on getting his stuff that he failed to notice the man when he walked through the dining room the second time. After walking back to the employee break area to his locker and retrieving his things, he gave that fat bastard, Jerry, a death glare as he walked back out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

While passing through the dining room for the last time, Justin suddenly felt someone grab his left arm to stop him. He was planning on telling the offending person to go and fuck themselves, but as soon as he saw those hazel eyes staring up at him, he couldn’t have recited the alphabet, even if he had a gun to his head.

The man had a square jaw that could cut a diamond, and a strong, pronounced chin-masculine qualities that made Justin’s pulse quicken. When the hot brunette in the expensive suit asked him what was wrong, he decided to be frank and tell him that he had just quit and that his boss was an asshole. Justin could feel the smoldering eyes burning into his flesh as the man checked him out from head to toe before taking a hit off his cigarette.

While Justin could hardly believe the gall of a man who would put his lips on a stranger’s cigarette without even asking, he thought it was one of the most sensual acts he had ever witnessed. He could feel his dick harden at the image of those lush pink lips sucking on his cigarette’s filter.

Justin walked up to his apartment building, fished his keys out of the front pocket of his messenger bag, and unlocked the main door. He then walked up the three flights of stairs to his apartment.

Every time he lumbered up those stairs, Justin promised himself that some day he would earn enough money to get a place in a building with an elevator.

He unlocked the door to the apartment and walked into the small foyer, where he could hear Janet Jackson’s “When I Think of You” playing on the open laptop sitting on the coffee table. After taking off his jacket and hanging it up in the tiny coat closet, he walked into the small living room.

At that moment, Justin’s best friend and roommate, Daphne, walked out of her bedroom, clad in a tiny hot pink tank top with a picture of a frog on it and even tinier lime green cotton shorts. Her naturally curly hair was held back in pigtails.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing here in the middle of the day? I thought your shift ended at four,” Daphne asked as she stretched her arms above her head, nearly touching the low ceiling.

Not that Daphne was complaining, as she rarely got to see Justin unless either of them had the day off, since they worked different shifts. But still, she knew he shouldn’t have been home at that time of the day.

Justin replied, “Yeah, it would have… if I hadn’t told that fat fuck, Jerry, to suck my dick before I quit.”

Daphne’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You did  _what_?! You just quit your job? Are you fucking serious, Justin?”

“I had to, Daph,” Justin replied as he walked into his tiny bedroom with Daphne following close behind. Justin sat down on the twin-sized bed to take off his shoes and socks. “If I had to put up with Jerry’s shit for one more minute, I would have burnt that fucking place down! I’ve told you before that the asshole wouldn’t get off my case. Like nobody else in that dump has never dropped a fucking plate before!”

Justin unbuttoned the white dress shirt he was wearing and took it off.

 _I won’t be needing this anymore_ , Justin thought to himself as he threw the shirt on the floor.

“The douche bag saw me take one of my plates off the serving line and he said, ‘Don’t drop that one, Taylor,’ all obnoxious. I thought to myself, ‘That’s it, motherfucker,’ and threw the plate down on purpose.”

“Well, I don’t blame you, but you could have waited to make a statement like that  _after_ you found another job! Did you ever think of asking Johnny if you could move to the bar so you wouldn’t have to go in the kitchen anymore?” Daphne asked, knowing that Johnny was the general manager of the restaurant.

“I  _would_  have asked Johnny if I could work in the bar, if the tips would have been comparable to serving, which they  _aren’t_ ,” Justin vehemently replied as he unzipped his black pants and pulled them off.

While living with Daphne for the past two years, they had seen each other naked numerous times, so it didn’t bother him to walk around in his birthday suit in front of her. Also, there was that one time in high school…

Justin then added, “Plus, that homophobic prick didn’t care how Jerry was treating me.” He pulled off his boxer briefs, threw them onto the pile of work clothes, and pushed past Daphne.

Daphne looked at Justin’s naked ass as he walked into their shared miniscule bathroom to take a shower. While Daphne gave up on any dreams of a real relationship with Justin long ago, she still found herself very attracted to the blond beauty.  _Hell, who wouldn’t find that boy attractive?_ she thought to herself. Daphne had observed more than one obviously straight man give Justin a second look when they had gone out in public together.

Justin turned on the shower, stepped in, and pulled the sunflower-printed curtain closed. “But the day wasn’t a total bust,” he said over the sound of the shower.

Daphne closed the lid on the toilet and sat down to continue their conversation. “Oh?” she inquired.

"'Oh' is right,” Justin replied, giggling. “As in, ‘Oh, my fucking God,’ I saw the  _hottest_ guy in the restaurant before I left! Christ, Daph, you should have seen this guy... you would have pissed your panties!”

Daphne laughed and inquired, “But, he wasn’t hot enough for you to piss  _your_ panties?”

“Oh, trust me, my dick was too hard for me to piss at all,” Justin countered, laughing.

“Eww, you nasty freak!” Daphne squealed. “T.M.I.!”

“Well, you asked… And since when is  _anything_ T.M.I. to you? What have you notasked me about my sex life, and what have you not told me about yours?” Justin peeked his shampoo-covered head out from behind the curtain long enough to inquire, “Shit, I fucked  _you_  before, remember? And how many times have I held your hair when you’ve had too much to drink, huh? What  _haven’t_ we shared?”

“Touché, my love, touché,” Daphne replied. “So, what do you think you’re going to do now; for work, I mean? Did the dude from that gallery ever call you back?”

Justin sighed and answered, “Yeah, he called this morning when I was getting ready for work. He said that while my work was ‘unique and fresh,’ it’s not what he wants to showcase at this time.”

Daphne clicked her tongue and said, “What was he looking for, typical and boring? Well, someone  _will_ want to show your work eventually, babe, you’ll see.”  

Although Daphne wasn’t an artist, she knew that her best friend had loads of talent. Justin had been lucky enough to sell a few pieces that he was able to get shown in small showcases in the past, but he never sold enough of his work to make a living off of it.

“Well, it looks like I’m going to be peddling my ass on the streets again,” Justin said.

Daphne laughed. “If anyone can sell their ass, it’s you, my friend!”

Justin turned the shower off and opened the curtain. He grabbed a towel off the rack next to the tub and began to dry himself off. “I hope so.”

* * *

 “… and let me tell you something else, you asshole,” Debbie yelled on the other end of the cell phone that Brian was holding a few inches away from his ear.

“Deb… Deb! It’s been a pleasure talking to you,  _as usual_ , but I’ve gotta go,” Brian managed to say. “Bye-bye, now.”

He hit the “end” button on the phone and turned the ringer off before putting the phone back in his jacket pocket. Brian made the mistake of answering Debbie’s fourth phone call of the day, but he knew that he would have to speak to her eventually, or she would never stop calling.

Following lunch, Brian and his three employees rode back to The Palace in their limo. Instead of going to the hotel’s spa like he originally planned, Brian changed from his suit into a modest pair of blue jeans, a white v-neck t-shirt, a black leather jacket, and a pair of Nikes. He then had his driver take him to Central Park.

To help get his mind off of the meetings he had scheduled over the next few days, along with the feisty blonde he saw at lunch, Brian decided to take a stroll. Although he loved the bustle of the city, he liked that the park offered a low-key atmosphere to escape to for a couple of hours.

Brian instructed the driver to drop him off near the pond when Debbie called. Just as he thought, Michael had promptly called his mother to complain to her about how Brian had spoken to him on the phone after he arrived in New York, and Debbie just  _had_  to call Brian to give him a piece of her mind.

After hanging up on Debbie, Brian continued his leisurely walk along the trail when he suddenly came upon a blonde man sitting on a camping stool. The man had an easel set up in front of him and was sketching an older man and woman, who were sitting on a bench next to him, with a charcoal pencil. Brian could not see the man’s face at that angle, but he knew without a doubt that this was the same gorgeous man that he saw in the restaurant a few hours before. The blonde was wearing the same blue denim jacket that he had on earlier.

Brian looked closely at the drawing, which was nearly finished, and could tell that the man had wonderful artistic talent. The sketch looked just like the couple, who were sitting close together and smiling at the blonde. A minute later, the man scribbled his signature on the bottom right corner of the paper and tore the page off of the sketch pad. He stood up and showed the drawing to the couple.

“Here we go… what do you think?” the blonde asked them. Brian immediately recognized the voice as belonging to the man from the restaurant.

The woman put her hand to her mouth and said, “Oh, my goodness, that is amazing! Isn’t it beautiful, sweetie?”

The man answered, “Yep, it looks great. Thank you, young man.” After pulling a bill out of his wallet and giving it to the blonde, he took the drawing with his left hand. The men shook hands, and the couple began to walk away, their arms wrapped around each other’s waists, still marveling at the sketch.

A moment later, the blonde turned around to walk back to his stool and came face to face with Brian, who was then standing a couple of feet away. The blonde gasped slightly, the look of recognition etched across his astonishing face.

The blonde flashed Brian a big smile, his blue eyes shimmering in the sunlight. “Uh… hi.”

Brian grinned back and said, “Why, hello there. Of all the people in this big city, I never thought I’d come across  _you_  again. I’m Brian Kinney, by the way.” Brian held his hand out to the blonde, who Brian observed was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a red t-shirt under the jacket.

The young man took Brian’s hand in his and replied, “Justin Taylor.”

 _Daph is gonna shit when I tell her about this!_ Justin thought to himself.

Brian continued to stare into Justin’s eyes, tightly gripping his right hand in his. “Justin… it’s  _very_  nice to meet you… officially, this time.”

Brian gave him his Kinney Smile, and Justin suddenly began to sweat, despite the sixty-five degree temperature and light breeze.

“Um… you, too, Brian.” Justin let out a nervous chuckle, thinking that his right hand was about to burst into flames from Brian’s touch.

“I couldn’t help but see the sketch you did of that couple. It was amazing,” Brian said, finally letting go of Justin’s hand.

Justin swiped his forehead with the back of his hand and replied, “Oh, uh, thank you. Now that I’m unemployed, I figured I better do something to earn a living, even if it’s selling sketches for ten dollars a pop.”

“Ten dollars, that’s all?” Brian asked, stunned. He pulled his cigarette case out of his pocket, took one out and offered one to Justin. Justin took the cigarette and allowed Brian to light it for him with his Zippo. “You’re selling yourself short, Sunshine.” Brian lit his own cigarette, blowing out a smoke ring over his head.  

Justin blushed, surprised to hear Brian call him by an endearing pet name after only speaking to him for no more than a minute, as well as for complementing his drawing. “Oh, well, I…” Justin brought the cigarette to his lips with a shaking hand.

Brian interrupted. “I’ll give you a thousand dollars to draw me, and to accompany me to dinner tonight.”

Justin coughed the smoke out of his lungs, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself. “A THOUSAND DOLLARS?” Justin exclaimed, coughed again, and threw the cigarette on the ground. “Are you fucking kidding me? Look pal, I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but…”

Brian laughed and said, “Whoa, calm down. I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m just offering-”

“It sounds like you’re hoping I’d have sex with you in exchange for money!” Justin said as he walked over to his makeshift work area to pack up his supplies, grumbling under his breath.

“What?” Brian asked. “Did I say ‘A thousand dollars to  _fuck you_?’ No! I meant a thousand for a drawing, and then we can go to dinner. That’s all, no further expectations!”

 _But if you do want to fuck me after, I certainly wouldn’t say no_ , Brian thought to himself.

Justin zipped up his messenger bag after putting his pencils and sketch pad away. He looked back at Brian and skeptically asked, “A thousand bucks just for a sketch?”

“Yeah, you’re worth it. With your amount of talent, I’m sure it will be worth a lot more than that in the future,” Brian answered, giving the blonde a slight smile. “And hopefully after you draw me, you’ll let me to treat you to dinner.”

Justin bit his lip, contemplating Brian’s offer. _I’d be out of my fucking mind if I said no to that… even if he was only asking me to dinner_ ,Justin thought. He huffed out a breath and replied, “Okay.”

Brian smiled, then cocked his head to the side and said, “Okay… what?”

Justin snorted and answered, “Okay, I’ll sketch you… hell, for that price, I’ll do a color portrait. Then, we can have dinner.”

“Great,” Brian said, flashing the Kinney Smile again. “Do you live around here?”

Justin folded up the stool and said, “Not really; I live in Chelsea. The bus goes down Fifth, then…”

Brian chuckled, “No… my limo is waiting for me up the road.”

“Li… limo?” Justin asked, wide eyed.  _How much fucking money does this guy have? He was wearing a really nice suit earlier, but…_

“Yeah… let me help you with those,” Brian said, taking the now-folded easel and stool from Justin. Brian pointed in the direction he came from and told Justin, “This way.”

The two men began walking up the trail, side by side. Justin asked, “So, what do you do for a living, Brian?”

“I own an advertising firm in Pittsburgh. I’m here for the week on business,” Brian replied.

“Wow,” Justin said. “Are you here to meet with a particular company, or…?”

“Well, yeah, but I’m not really supposed to talk about it. The company I’m scheduled to meet with is shopping for a new agency, so I really shouldn’t tell anyone until after I land the deal.”

Justin smiled. “You said ‘after’ you land it… you sound pretty sure of yourself.” 

“Oh yeah, I’m very confident that they will sign with me,” Brian said. “So, Justin, did you go to art school?”

“Yeah, I spent a year at the School of Visual Arts, but I had to drop out.”

“Hmm,” Brian said, “why was that?”

“My dad refused to continue to pay for my schooling, and I could never earn enough money to pay for tuition, so I had to leave,” Justin answered.

“Bummer. Why didn’t your dad want to pay for it anymore, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Justin sighed and said, “Well, he was never too crazy about me going to art school. He had hoped I would go to business school at NYU like he did, to earn an MBA, but I begged my mom to convince him to let me go to SVA instead. During my freshman year there, I came out, moved out of their house, and then my parents got divorced a couple months later. When it came time to enroll for my second year, my mom told me that he wasn’t going to pay for it, and that was that. I don’t even talk to my dad anymore.”

“Damn,” Brian said. “Your old man sounds like almost as big of an asshole as mine. He died a few years back, but we never got along. Hell, I didn’t even tell him that I was gay until he told me that he was dying of cancer. I think I was saving it for one last ‘fuck you’ for the prick.”

“My dad only found out because my mom told him, although I begged her not to," Justin said. "My mom figured it out when she found sketches of naked men in my room.”

Brian laughed. “I wish it had been that easy for me! My mom found out last year after she showed up at my place unannounced, where I was in the middle of fucking some guy.”

“I bet  _that_  was interesting,” Justin said, laughing.

“Nothing kills the mood like your bible-thumping mama banging on your door. Here we are,” Brian stated, indicating his limo parked a few feet away.

Brian opened the back door for Justin and climbed in after, sitting Justin’s stuff on the opposite seat. After Justin told the driver where his apartment was located, the limo began to make its way out of the park.


	3. Hot Stuff

Brian and Justin were walking up to Justin's apartment when Justin apologetically said, "We're almost there."

"Oh, that's okay," Brian replied. "I live on the fourth floor of my building back at home. Although I have an elevator, I usually take the stairs for exercise, anyway."

Justin scoffed and said, "Hell, if I lived in a building with an elevator, I'd  _never_  walk up the stairs! Alright, we made it."

As Justin worked on unlocking the door, the two men could hear the sound of female laughter coming from the apartment. "My roommate must have some friends over. I forgot that she's off tonight," Justin said.

After Justin got the door unlocked, he and Brian walked in. Justin saw Daphne and her two friends, Janice and Michelle, sitting on the couch, Chinese take-out containers scattered on the coffee table. A repeat of _Friends_  was playing on the TV.

All three girls had turned to the sound of someone coming into the apartment and immediately began to stare at Justin's guest. Simultaneously, three jaws dropped at the sight of the hunky brunette, as if none of them had ever seen a man before.

"Hi, ladies," Justin said to the group.

"Hi," all three said together, never taking their eyes off of Brian.

"Uh, Brian, this is Michelle, my roommate Daphne, and Janice," Justin stated, naming each girl in the order of where she sat on the couch. "Girls, this is Brian."

A moment later, Daphne cleared her throat and said, "It's nice to meet you, Brian."

Brian proceeded to step forward, holding his right hand out to a smiling Daphne across the coffee table. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Daphne." Brian turned her hand over and kissed it, causing Daphne to shiver slightly.

Janice and Michelle both held their hands out to Brian. To be fair, he kissed their hands, too, much to their giggling delight.

"Daph, could we talk in your room for a minute?" Justin asked. He turned to Brian and said, "I'll be right back."

"Sure," Brian answered as he sat down on a wooden rocking chair adjacent to the couch.

Michelle and Janice had somehow managed to tear their eyes away from Brian to continue eating and watching TV. Brian looked around at the small, yet colorfully decorated living room. The black microfiber couch was accented with large leopard-spotted throw pillows, and a fuzzy red area rug was placed under the glass coffee table. There were three paintings hanging on the walls, along with pictures of Justin and Daphne with various friends and family members. Brian safely guessed that Justin had created the paintings. A few of the pictures showed Daphne wearing various dance costumes.

Daphne got up and followed Justin into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. "Ho...ly... shit! Who is that hunk of burning love?" Daphne asked in a hushed voice.

Justin giggled and replied, "Well, you remember how I told you earlier about the guy I saw in the restaurant before I quit? That's him!"

"No fucking way!" Daphne said, in shock. "How the hell did you manage to find him again?"

"I didn't; he found me. I was sketching an old couple in the park, and I turned around and there he was. It was like, fate or something."

"Wow... you weren't lying when you said he was ‘piss your panties' hot! Woo..." Daphne fanned herself.

"Yeah, well, he's not only hot, but he's rich, too. He owns his own advertising agency in Pittsburgh, and he offered me a thousand dollars to draw his portrait."

Daphne gasped. "What?"

"Yeah, and he offered to take me out to dinner afterwards."

"Shit, you know you're gonna have to put out after that!" Daphne said. "And if you don't, I will..."

"Oh, shut up, you slut," Justin said, laughing. "I totally forgot that you didn't perform tonight. Hmm..." Justin turned and opened Daphne's bedroom door. He walked out into the living room and said, "Brian, I thought that I'd do the portrait out here, but since the girls are here..."

"Oh, that's cool. We can go back to my hotel room and do it there," Brian replied.

All three girls giggled at Brian's comment.

Daphne replied, "Oh, you'll ‘do it,' alright!"

Justin swatted Daphne on her ass and told a smiling Brian, "I'll just grab some supplies, and then we can go."

A few minutes later, Justin and Brian left the apartment, leaving the three girls to talk about how heart-stopping gorgeous Brian was and how likely it was that Justin was going to get laid that night.

* * *

Justin followed Brian into the lobby of the hotel, looking around in awe. He bumped into a man who was waiting in line to check in at the front desk, because he was gazing up at the large chandelier hanging from the high ceiling.

As Justin was profusely apologizing to the man, Brian turned around and asked, "Something wrong?"

Justin laughed nervously and shook his head. "Uh... no. I've just never been inside a fancy hotel like this!"

Brian laughed. "Well, they have really nice lotion in the bathrooms, so..."

The guys passed Chris, the bellman, on the way to the elevators. Chris gave Justin a dirty look, much to Justin's confusion.

Justin and Brian stepped onto the elevator and rode up to the 42nd floor, listening to "Hot Stuff," by Donna Summer. Justin couldn't help but bop his head from side to side along with the beat. Brian looked over at Justin and smiled.

The elevator attendant wished the men a good evening when they reached their floor, and Brian led Justin down the hallway to his suite.

Brian unlocked the door with his key card, flipped on the lights, and held the door open for Justin to go in first. After walking into the living room and sitting his messenger bag and easel on the large coffee table, Justin looked around the spacious, luxuriously decorated suite. There was a small kitchen off to one side, as well as a dining area with a large table and several chairs. The living room had a desk, couch, and two arm chairs, and Justin could see the entrance to the bedroom on the other side of the suite. The large window over the couch offered a view of St. Patrick's Cathedral across the street.

Brian walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "Would you like something to drink?" he yelled out. "There's bottled water, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite..."

"Water's fine, thank you," Justin replied.

Brian walked out and handed him the bottle, and Justin drank half of it in one go. Brian watched Justin's throat move as he swallowed, unable to take his eyes off of the mesmerizing blonde.

"So, I guess we should get started..." Justin said.

"Uh... I was thinking maybe we could order some room service first, if you'd like," Brian replied. "I'm getting a little hungry, myself."

"Really? That's usually pretty expensive, isn't it?" Justin asked, immediately regretting the words as soon as they came out of his mouth.

 _I think we've already established that the guy is loaded, you moron_ , he thought to himself.

Brian snorted and said, "Don't worry about the price. I said it's on me." He smiled at the blonde, signaling to him that it was okay.

Just then, the phone began to ring. "Go ahead and look at the menu while I get that; it's on the coffee table," Brian told Justin. He sat down at the desk and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mr. Kinney?" the woman on the phone asked.

"Yes."

"Good evening, sir. This is Andrea from the front desk. There is a Mr. Novotny on hold, and he insists on speaking with you."

Brian sighed and said, "Okay, put him through." He glanced over to look at Justin, who was now sitting on the couch and flipping through the guest service book.

"One moment, sir," Andrea said.

Brian heard a couple of clicks, followed by the sound of background noise. "Hello?" he asked.

"Brian? Why the fuck haven't you been answering your cell phone? I've tried to call you three times in the last two hours, but it just rings then goes to voice mail!" Michael wailed on the other end.

"Probably because I turned the ringer off." Brian reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone and saw that he had five missed calls. Three were from Michael, and the other two were from Debbie.

"Well, what if there had been some kind of emergency? What if Gus was rushed to the hospital, or someone had been in a car accident, or..."

Brian loudly cleared his throat to stop Michael's ranting. "Why? Is there something wrong?" he asked in an irritated tone, knowing that there most likely was not. He sat his cell on the desk, and then glanced back over at Justin, who looked as if he was trying not to listen to Brian's call.

"Yes, there's something wrong! This morning you said that you would call me back, but you haven't! What the hell have you been doing all day?" Michael insisted.

"I'm working, remember?" Brian tensely reminded him.

"Yeah, but you haven't been working _today_!" Michael shouted. "I called Ted when I couldn't reach you on your cell, and he said that you went for a walk in the park."

 _Fucking Schmidt_... Brian thought, shaking his head.

Michael continued, "Don't fucking lie to me and say that you were working when you weren't! You said you had to go to New York this week because it was sooooo fucking important, but instead, you're walking around town like you're on a fucking vacation! You-"

Brian hung up the phone, unable to take one more second of Michael's ranting. "Jesus Christ," he muttered. He then picked up the phone again and hit the extension for the front desk.

"Palace Hotel front desk, Diane speaking," the woman on the other end said.

"Yes, this is Mr. Kinney in room 4208. Will you please put a ‘Do Not Disturb' on my line, and take any messages?"

Diane answered, "Certainly, sir."

"Thank you," Brian said, hanging up the phone again. He stood up from the desk and took his jacket off, throwing it onto one of the arm chairs. He looked at Justin and asked, "Now, do you know what you'd like to order?"

"Is everything okay?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," Brian said, waving his hand. "Just stupid shit, don't worry about it."

* * *

Justin took the last bite of his prime beef burger, licking a few drops of steak sauce off of his fingers. Brian was watching him out of the corner of his eye as he finished his glazed salmon.

 _Damn, I wonder what else he can do with that tongue_... he thought to himself as he felt his cock getting hard.

Brian swallowed and asked, "Did you enjoy your burger?"

Justin took a sip of his wine and answered, "Mm-hmm. That was probably one of the best I've ever had."

"Good," Brian said.  _You haven't tasted anything yet, Sunshine_...

Justin wiped his mouth and placed his napkin on top of his empty plate. He stood up from the table and said, "Well, I'm going to use the restroom, and then I guess we can get started on the portrait?"

"Yeah, sure. There's a bathroom next to the kitchen, or you can use the one in the bedroom..." Brian answered, the pitch of his voice dropping slightly during the last half of his sentence.

Justin smiled nervously, noticing the change in Brian's voice. "Okay..." He thought about it for a second and turned to walk towards the bedroom.

 _Ooh... you're mine, you sexy boy_ , Brian thought to himself, licking his lips.

He stood and gathered up their dishes and silverware. After putting everything on the room service cart, Brian wheeled it out into the hall, placed the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and locked the door behind him. He walked barefoot into the bedroom just as Justin was coming out of the bathroom.

Brian took his checkbook out of the closet safe. "I'll go ahead and write you a check for the thousand, so you won't fear that I'll refuse to pay after the drawing is finished, like I was just blowing smoke up your ass earlier." He picked up a pen from the nightstand, which was sitting on top of a small notepad with the hotel's logo on it, and began to write the check out.

Justin laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't have worried. I usually wait for payment until after the piece is complete, in case the customer isn't happy with the finished product."

"Have you had people refuse to pay you before, because they weren't happy with it?"

"No, but when I sketch people out in public, they might fear that I'll grab the money and run, so I normally don't ask for it up front," Justin replied.

Brian tore the check off of the book, handing it to Justin. Justin was putting the check in his wallet when Brian said, "Well, nobody has ever given you a thousand dollars for a sketch before, have they?"

"No... good point."

"So, where were you wanting to do this?" Brian asked as he put the checkbook back into the safe.

Justin shrugged and said, "Well, it's up to you. We can do it in the living room, or..."

"How about right here?" Brian asked, indicating the bed, which had been turned down by the maid service at some point of the day, with his right hand.

Justin took a deep breath and held it for a second.  _Oh, shit_... he thought to himself. "Sure, we can... do it here. I'll get my stuff and set it up."

"Okay, I'll be right back," Brian said, as he began to walk into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself.

Justin went out into the living room where he left his bag and easel and carried them into the bedroom. He set up the easel at the bottom left side of the bed and pulled a padded chair that was sitting against the wall closer. He took out his sketch pad and pencils just as Brian walked back into the bedroom, stopping a few feet in front of Justin.

"So uh, how were you wanting this?" Justin asked.

"Well, you know how you said earlier that your mom found out that you were gay when she found sketches of naked men in your room? Were those of actual naked men, or...?"

Justin chuckled and said, "One of them was an assignment for a class; they brought in a male model that we had to sketch on the very first day. But the rest were figments of my imagination, I guess. It was still a year before I ever had sex with a guy."

"Hmm... well, I was wondering if you would do a nude drawing of me," Brian asked, his hazel eyes burning into Justin's blue ones.

Justin stared at Brian for several moments, speechless. _This is going to get interesting_... "Uh... yeah, if that's what you want."

"Great," Brian said as he began to pull his t-shirt over his head, revealing a toned, lightly tanned chest and stomach.

Justin swallowed hard, backed up, and sat down in the chair while Brian unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, pulling them off and laying them on the bench in front of the bed, where he had dropped his shirt. He slowly pulled off his black boxer briefs and stood there for a few seconds in all his glory, his very impressive dick standing at full mast.

Justin stared at the beautiful man in front of him, his mouth slightly open and heart pounding so hard he was sure that Brian could hear it. The smell of Brian's deodorant, combined with the smell of cigarettes and his natural scent, wafted over to Justin's nose as the air settled around them.

Brian then climbed onto the bed, laying on his back with his head on the pillow.

Suddenly, Justin began to laugh. "I'm sorry, I feel like we're in  _Titanic_. You know, when Jack sketched Rose..."

Brian nodded and laughed. "How should I pose?"

"However you would be most comfortable. This will probably take about an hour, and you'd have to stay mostly still."

Brian rested his left hand over his upper abdomen while keeping his right arm at his side. He had his head turned slightly to the right, looking at Justin with intense eyes.

Justin looked at Brian's engorged member again and could see a bead of pre-cum glistening on the slit. Resisting the urge to lick it off, Justin got up and smoothed a few stray strands of Brian's slightly-shaggy brown hair away from his forehead, taking a moment to look at the golden flecks in his eyes.

"Hmm... maybe you should close your eyes; it would look more natural that way," Justin suggested.  _And I'll be able to focus better without you staring at me_...

"Okay," Brian said, closing his eyes.

Justin sat back down and said, "Alright, here we go... try not to fall asleep." He picked up his black charcoal pencil and began to sketch.


	4. Wow

Brian smiled and said, "Talk to me then. Tell me about Daphne."

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you meet her?" Brian asked.

"We met back in the second grade when we were in the same class. As far as I can remember, we became friends pretty quickly. Even back then, I knew that I wasn't like the other boys. I didn't like sports in the least, so when the boys would be playing soccer or basketball during recess, I'd be playing on the jungle gym or the swings with Daph and the girls. We, of course, stayed friends to today. She was the first person I told that I was gay, when I was seventeen, and she wasn't surprised."

Brian snickered and said, "Yeah, you're way too pretty to be straight, I knew that right off the bat." He then opened his eyes to look at him for a moment and smiled.

Justin laughed. "Yeah, I've been told that more than once... Anyway, after my mom told my dad that I was gay during my freshman year of art school, I didn't feel welcome in their house anymore. My dad told me that as long as I lived under his roof, I could not flaunt my ‘disgusting' lifestyle or go out to the bars."

"Asshole."

"Mm-hmm. By that point, Daph was ready to move out of her parent's house, too. Her parents were pissed that she didn't want to go into pre-med and become doctors like they did. She had just gotten a part in  _The Lion King_  on Broadway, which was her dream come true."

Justin felt his sweat glands kick into overdrive as he began to sketch Brian's penis, which was still nearly fully erect and pointing up towards his belly button.  _Wow, he could beat someone to death with that thing_... Justin felt his own cock begin to leak in response.

"So, I'm guessing by the way she was gawking at me earlier, that she's straight?" Brian asked.

Justin tore his eyes away to continue the drawing. "Yep. As many gay bars as she's been to with me, if she hasn't fucked a woman yet, she probably never will."

Brian smiled and said, "You never know... Maybe she just hasn't met the right snatch yet." He let out a huff of laughter a few moments later.

"What?"

"Well... I was wondering if anything had ever happened between the two of you."

It was Justin's turn to laugh. "Uh... guilty. We lost our virginity to each other when we were seventeen, not long after I came out to her."

"No shit? Even after you told her you liked dick, she still wanted to fuck you?"

"Yeah... she was dating a guy that wasn't a virgin and she didn't want to lose it to him. She was afraid that he would be too rough with her the first time, and she wanted it to be with someone 'special.' While I was mostly doing it as a favor to her, I also wanted to see if I was missing out on anything.

"It felt fine; my equipment worked like it should have, but after it was over, I knew that it was probably the last time I would ever do it with a woman. It just felt... wrong. Unfortunately, she broke up with her boyfriend the next day and thought we could have an actual relationship. I told her that I was still as gay as a bag of Skittles, and eventually she moved on. She's gotten plenty of practice since then. I should know- the walls in our apartment are  _very_  thin!"

Brian chuckled. "Yeah, I'm guilty of trying on a pussy, too. I met my good friend, Lindsay, back in college. She had been with a few guys before, but she had also been batting for the other team for a while. I had been with several guys at that point, but I let my curiosity get the better of me. We hooked up a few times, usually when we were high, but it never felt right. Linds has been eating the same muff for nearly a decade now."

"Wow. Go, Lindsay," Justin said, smiling.

"Eh, you wouldn't say that if you knew the ragging bitch that she's under..." Justin noticed that Brian began to lose his erection.

* * *

"Okay... I believe I'm done here," Justin said as Brian stood up and stretched. Brian then walked around the easel to look at his finished portrait.

Justin looked up at the still-naked man standing next to him, shamelessly peeking at Brian's cock, which had softened, but was still very commendable.

"Nice job, little Picasso," Brian said, smiling down at Justin. "Looks just like me... every... single... inch..."

Justin looked back at the portrait and giggled sheepishly. "I'm glad you like it." He looked back at Brian's dick, which Justin could swear just winked at him.

"How about you?" Brian asked, his voice heavy with desire. "Do you like it?"

Justin cleared his throat and looked up at him, suddenly feeling faint. "I... uh..."

Brian grabbed Justin's forearms and pulled him out of the chair, over towards the head of the bed. He then looked into Justin's gorgeous blue eyes and wet his lips. "Do you accept tips, Mr. Taylor?"

Justin ran his hands up Brian's sculpted biceps and nodded, then tilted his head to the side to cover Brian's lips with his.

Brian welcomed the kiss by cradling the back of Justin's head, combing his fingers through the short, blonde locks. Justin probed Brian's mouth with his tongue, moaning as he felt Brian's tongue touch his. Brian growled at the sound, reaching down to grab the hem of Justin's t-shirt. The kiss was broken long enough for Brian to pull the shirt off, which he tossed to the floor. While Brian continued to explore Justin's mouth, Justin toed off his shoes and kicked them to the side.

Brian reached back down to unzip Justin's pants, and put his right hand into Justin's underwear, grabbed his thick shaft and gaving it a squeeze. Justin whimpered into Brian's mouth and reached down to stroke Brian's dripping dick, using his thumb to smear the pre-cum around the head and then squeezed him back, causing Brian to let out a moan. Brian used his other hand to pull down both Justin's pants and boxer briefs, which Justin pulled the rest of the way down and off. Justin then reached to pull his socks off, throwing them onto the rest of his clothes, while Brian lightly nibbled on his bottom lip.

A few moments later, Justin put his hands on the sides of Brian's face, pulling their faces apart. "Do you have any...?" Justin asked, his breaths coming in rapid pants.

Brain smiled. "Yeah." He turned around to look in his wheeled suitcase, which he had earlier sat on top of the luggage rack in the closet. He put his hand into a side pocket and pulled out a new box of condoms and a bottle of lube. Brian turned around, sat the bottle on the night stand, and tore open the box. He tossed a ribbon of condoms at Justin, who was then lying on the bed. Justin laughed, placed the condoms on the blanket beside him, and Brian climbed on top of him to resume their oral examination, their leaking dicks bobbing against each other.

Brian began to trail kisses across Justin's cheek, then licked at his left earlobe. Justin gasped when he felt Brian begin to lightly bite and suck on his neck, leaving a trail of marks as he made his way down to Justin's left nipple. Brian ran his tongue around the stiff peak, chuckling a little when he heard Justin moan in ecstasy. He gave the other nipple a lick, causing Justin to lightly pull at Brian's hair with both hands. Brian continued to travel down Justin's tight body, lapping at the sweat glistening on Justin's torso, stopping to dip his tongue into his belly button. Justin giggled, causing Brian to look up at him and smile.

Brian then lightly clasped his right hand around the base of Justin's engorged cock and licked up the pre-come dripping out of the slit. "Oh, fuck!" Justin yelled out, throwing his head back and grabbing the sheets in both hands.

"Patience, Sunshine," Brian said. "Mmm, you taste so good." Brian swirled his tongue around the head of Justin's cock, then dipped down to lick up the length of Justin's shaft. He felt Justin shiver as he covered the head with his mouth, taking in a few inches as he reached down and fondled his balls.

"Brian," Justin begged. "Please..."

Brian looked back up at Justin. "Please, what?"

"God... anything!" Justin yelled. "Just don't stop."

Brian reached his left hand up to Justin. "Lube," he instructed.

Justin grabbed the bottle off of the night stand and happily handed it over to Brian.

Brian opened the bottle and squeezed several drops onto his fingers. He closed the top with his thumb and sat it on the other side of the bed. He used his lubed index finger to rub the outside of Justin asshole, eliciting a whimper from him. Brian went back to sucking on Justin's throbbing cock, while he poked his finger into the hole. Feeling Justin open for him, he pushed in further, sliding his finger in and out. He tapped Justin's prostate as he sucked harder.

"God... Brian, I'm not gonna last..."

Brian then added a second finger and swallowed around Justin's dick, burying his nose in his pubes. "Ah, shit!" Justin screamed, digging his fingers into Brian's scalp. Brian pushed his two fingers in as far as they would go while continuing to deep throat his cock.

A few moments later, Brian felt the warm cum fill his throat and he swallowed it down as he heard Justin speak between gasping breaths.

"Oh... fuck... Brian... wow..."

Brian released Justin's dick and pulled his fingers out of his hole. After licking the last drops of cum away, he crawled up Justin's body and kissed him, giving him a taste of himself.

"I'll show you ‘wow'," Brian snarled. He then reached over to the strip of condoms and tore one off. He ripped it open with his teeth, spit the piece of the wrapper out onto the floor, and pulled the condom out. Brian threw the rest of the wrapper onto the floor and rolled the condom on his now painfully hard cock. He then grabbed the bottle of lube and coated the condom with it, using the extra to rub in and around Justin's pulsing hole.

Justin looked at Brian and said, "Uh... I may look like a pretty little bottom, but I haven't done this in quite a while... and you are  _really_  big."

"I'll try to be gentle, pretty boy," Brian replied as he leaned in to kiss Justin again. Brian took hold of his shaft and put the tip to Justin's asshole. He tried to push in as he lightly sucked on Justin's tongue.

Justin let out a small, pained whimper. "Breath, Sunshine," Brian whispered.

Justin took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, his eyes never leaving Brian's. He spread his legs open a little farther. "Okay," he said.

Brian pushed in harder, feeling Justin open around him. Brian pulled out and pushed in deeper this time. He heard Justin sigh as Brian filled him, a smile coming across his face.

Justin put his hands on Brian's cheeks, kissed him, and wrapped his legs around the other man's waist. Brian began to thrust into him a bit faster, groaning each time he pushed in.

"Mmm... so good," Justin sighed into Brian's ear, sucking his earlobe into his mouth.

"Mmm..." Brian moaned. "So tight."

Justin responded to that by unlocking his legs from behind Brian's back and lifting them up. Brian took the hint and put Justin's calves over his shoulders, bending the blonde in half. Brian quickened his pace, thrusting in as deep as he could.

"Brian... fuck me... harder!"

"What happened... to the... delicate little flower... scared of the... big, bad cock?" Brian asked between breaths.

"The big, bad cock... feels... fucking awesome!" Justin yelled, reaching around to grab Brian's ass. He soon began to feel his second orgasm building and groaned into Brian's neck.

"Cum for me, Justin," Brian hissed as he felt Justin's ass tighten even more around him.

Justin cried out as he shot between his and Brian's chests, tightly gripping Brian's biceps. Brian thrust into him two more times as he filled the condom, shouting into the pillow under Justin's head. Brian pulled Justin's legs off of his shoulders and rested on top of him, Justin's cum wet and warm between them, mixed in with their sweat.

"Wow?" Brian asked Justin.

Justin laughed, "Wow, indeed."

They laid there together for a minute, kissing and caressing before Brian pulled out and flopped over onto right his side.

"Fucking trash can is on the other side of the room," Brian said, chuckling and pointing in the general direction of it.

Justin sat up and saw where Brian was pointing. "I'll get it, Mr. Big, Bad Cock."

Brian laughed as Justin got up and grabbed the can. He put it in front of Brian to throw the used condom into and then sat the can next to the bed. Justin then walked into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel off of the rack, using it to wipe off the mess on his chest and belly. He brought the towel into the bedroom, sat on the bed, and began to wipe off Brian's chest.

"Thanks. Damn, I need a cigarette," Brian said.

"Where did you leave them, you lazy, old man?"

" _Old_?" Brian asked, raising an eyebrow. " _Old_? I just fucked you into oblivion, and you're calling me  _old_?"

"Well, how old are you?"

"Thirty... three." Brian grudgingly replied.

"Yep- old."

"Fuck you," Brian playfully answered.

Justin laughed and teased, "Uh, I thought we just did that... do you have Alzheimer's, too?"

Brian cocked his head to the side. "What's your name again?" He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and crawled down to the foot of the bed, pulling a cigarette and lighter out of the pocket of his discarded jeans.

Justin smacked him on his ass and lay back down on the bed. Brian stretched out beside him and lit the cigarette, turning over to place his lighter on the nightstand.

Brian passed the cigarette to Justin and asked, "Would the child like a bottle of water?"

Justin blew out the smoke and came back with, "I don't know; can the old fart walk that far?"

"I'll try, although you should be ready to give me mouth-to-cock to revive me if I collapse," Brian said as he stood up and walked into the living room. He returned a bit later with two bottles of water, handing one to Justin and taking the cigarette back from him.

"Hey, you made it," Justin bantered and took a swig of his water. "Does this mean I can't give you mouth-to-cock?"

Brian snubbed the cigarette in the ashtray, took the bottle from Justin, sat it down on the night stand, and dragged Justin into the enormous bathroom.

"If you insist..." Brian said as he reached out and pulled open the glass shower door, turning on the water. After testing the temperature with his hand, he pushed Justin under the spray and followed him in.

Justin dropped down to his knees and took Brian into his mouth all at once.

"Justin, fuck!" Brian shouted.

Justin pulled away, looked up at Brian, and smiled. "Oh, now you remember my name." He then swallowed around Brian's dick once again and grabbed onto Brian's ass with both hands to thrust him in and out of his mouth.

Brian grabbed onto the bar that was bolted onto the wall to steady himself, groaning as Justin continued to blow him relentlessly. A few moments later, Brian's orgasm hit him all at once, and he came down Justin's throat, his moans echoing off the walls.

Justin stood up and engulfed Brian's mouth with his. Brian moaned again as he tasted himself in Justin's mouth.

"In... credible," Brian exhaled. He grabbed the bottle of shampoo he had earlier sat on a ledge in the shower stall and poured some out into his hand. He lathered his hands and washed Justin's hair for him. Justin tilted his head back to rinse the shampoo away, feeling Brian begin to slowly stroke his dick. He grabbed the shampoo and washed Brian's hair, moaning as he felt his cock harden again.

After Brian rinsed his hair, he grabbed his bar of French milled soap and a washcloth, and he and Justin took turns washing each other's bodies. They rinsed off and stepped out of the shower a few minutes later.

Brian took a large towel off of the rack and rubbed Justin's head with it. Justin tilted back his head to look into Brian's eyes. As Brian kissed him, Justin reached out to grab onto Brian's dick, which was getting hard again.

"Hey... the old man bounces back pretty quickly," Justin said as Brian rubbed the towel over his shoulders and back.

"And without Viagra," Brian stated proudly.

Once they were both dried off, Justin and Brian fell back into the bed together and fucked a second time... and a third.


	5. Rags to Riches

Brian woke up to the sound of someone rapidly knocking on the door to his suite. He cursed under his breath when he looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was seven AM. He looked to his other side and smiled when he saw Justin sleeping beside him, his eyelids fluttering slightly.

Brian heard the knocking again and slowly rolled out of the bed so he would not wake Justin. After taking a hotel robe out of the closet, Brian closed the bedroom door behind him and walked out to the foyer. He looked through the peephole and saw Ted standing outside the door.

Brian unlocked the door and forcefully pulled it open. “Yes, Theodore?”

“You know, getting in touch with you is like trying to talk to the Pope!” Ted exclaimed as he pushed past Brian to walk into the suite. “I call your cell, it goes to voice mail. I call your room, it sends me to the hotel operator to take a message. I send you an email, you don’t reply.”

“Did you think maybe that’s because I didn’t want to be bothered?” Brian asked, running his hand through his disheveled hair.

Ted rolled his eyes and said, “I’m  _so_  sorry to disturb you, Sleeping Beauty, but need I remind you that we have work to do?”

“What the fuck crawled up your ass?” Brian asked as he picked up his now-dead cell phone and hooked it up to the charger that was plugged in under the desk. He sat the phone on the desk chair.

“Michael, that’s what! He called me last night to say that you hung up on him, and then when he tried to call you back, the operator refused to put him through,” Ted said as he sat down on the couch. “He wanted me to come up here to see what the fuck was going on, but I told him that you obviously didn’t want to talk to him, and I wasn’t going to risk you biting my head off if I bothered you. And then, he called me again a half hour ago and said that I’d better tell you to call him, or there was going to be major hell to pay. Whatever the fuck is going on between you and your boyfriend,  _you_  need to deal with it.”

Brian glanced over at the closed door to the bedroom, hoping that Justin hadn’t woken up and heard any of that. “Look, thank you for the wake-up call,” he said as he grabbed onto the collar of Ted’s suit jacket and shoved him towards the door. “I’ll be down in the conference room at nine.” Brian opened the door and practically threw Ted out of the suite.

“Christ,” Brian whispered. He walked over to the room phone and ordered two breakfasts with a pot of coffee. He then opened the door to the bedroom and saw that Justin was still asleep, snoring lightly. Brian sat down beside him on the bed and took a minute to stare at the captivating young man.

Justin was not Brian’s usual type. While Brian normally preferred muscular, tan, dark-haired men, he found himself undeniably attracted to the lightly-built, fair-skinned blonde from the moment he first saw him in the restaurant the day before. Although Justin didn’t have much body fat or muscle, he had the most adorable bubble butt that Brian had ever had the pleasure to fuck.

In addition, he found Justin to be very witty, outgoing, and confident, and he liked talking and joking with him. Although it was common practice for Brian to throw a trick out as soon as they were done fucking, he enjoyed cuddling with Justin after they were both too exhausted to move after they finished with their nighttime mattress Olympics. He certainly had to respect a guy that had no trouble keeping up with him in bed, no matter how out-of-practice he claimed to be.

Brian had to admit that he was not ready to say adios to the blonde just yet.

He put his hand on Justin’s shoulder, shaking him gently. “Wake up, Sunshine,” Brian sang out.

Justin opened his eyes and smiled. “Mmm… morning, sexy,”

Brian kissed him on his forehead and said, “I ordered breakfast, it will be up soon. After that, I have to get dressed and get to work. I rented a conference room downstairs.”

“Okay,” Justin said as he stretched. Both men used the restroom, and room service knocked on the door a bit later. Justin put the other robe that was in the closet on and followed Brian into the living room.

They were sitting at the dining room table eating when Brian asked, “So, what were you planning on doing today?”

“I need to stop by the bank to deposit that check on the way home. I certainly don’t want to carry that around for long; I’ve been mugged twice before.”

Brian clicked his tongue and said, “Well, before I fell asleep last night, I was thinking about something. This needs to remain private until it actually happens, okay?”

“Okay,” Justin said as he spread strawberry jelly on his toast.

“After I land this account, I’m planning on setting up a second office in Manhattan. Working here has always been a dream of mine and the money my company stands to bring in with this new client will make that possible.”

“That’s great, Brian.”

Brian smiled and said, “And, it goes without saying that you have remarkable artistic talent… and I will need an art director once I get my new office up and running, which will hopefully be within the next couple of months.”

Justin paused with his coffee cup to his lips. “Uh-huh?”

Brian took a deep breath. “So, I am offering the position to you. You’ll be making in the six figures, as well as having a 401K, two weeks paid vacation, and full insurance benefits. I could even give you an advance to get a car and an apartment closer to the office, if you’d like.”

Justin sat his cup down and huffed out a breath, blinking rapidly. “Brian… I don’t have any experience in advertising.”

“That doesn’t matter. You will be creating and overseeing the boards for the campaigns. I have associates who create the slogans and ideas for the boards.”

“But… what if you don’t get the account?”

Brian snickered. “Oh, I’ll get the account. But, if for some unfathomable reason I don’t, I will most likely be able to open up an office here within the next year. I started my company less than a year ago, but I’ve been making money hand over fist. I managed to steal over half of my old clients that I brought in for my former employer, as well as signing a few new ones. Also, you’ll be working pretty closely with me… sometimes long, hard hours, deep into the night…”

Justin felt Brian rub against his shin with his big toe. He smiled at Brian and sighed. “I don’t know…”

“I'm meeting the client this evening for dinner to schmooze, and then we pitch our campaign to them tomorrow. We should know by Friday at the latest whether they are signing with us or not. And really, do you have any other job offers right now? Other than some old lady in the park that will give you pocket change for a drawing?”

“No…” Justin answered, biting his bottom lip.

“Well?” Brian asked as he reached across the table to put his hand on top of Justin’s.

Justin sighed. “Okay.”

“Great. I was also thinking… I want you to spend the week with me.”

Justin smiled. “Really? The  _whole_  week?”

“Mm-hmm. I don’t leave until Sunday morning. I was planning on meeting with a few of my other clients that are based here, probably catch a show Thursday or Friday evening, and then spend Saturday shopping. What do you say? Would you like to be my arm candy and fuck buddy for the week?” Brian asked, smiling.

“Uh…” Justin laughed. “Sure.”

“Run back to your place and pack a bag. We’ll be eating some dinners at some very upscale restaurants, so you will need to get a suit. I’ll have my assistant make you an appointment at Armani, and she’ll authorize you to use my charge account. My driver can take you.”

Justin’s eyes widened. “Armani? I… I can buy a suit at Macy’s, or…”

Brian laughed for a second, and then quickly switched to a straight face. “No, you won’t.”

After they finished breakfast, Brian called Cynthia on her cell to set up an appointment for his “friend” at Armani, and to inform their driver that Justin would need a ride to the boutique and to his apartment to get his things for the week.

That was, not before Cynthia berated him for not returning her messages from the previous evening and for her having to put up with Michael calling her the previous night and that morning, wanting to know why the fuck her boss was being an asshole. She didn’t bother to question Brian’s liaison with Justin, as she knew he commonly fucked other men besides Michael, especially when he was out of town.

After Brian's phone call, the boys took a long shower together. Brian fucked Justin against the shower wall and blew him before they got out. Brian called Cynthia back, learning that she was able to get an appointment for Justin at ten, right when the store opened. Both men shaved and got dressed, and Brian gave Justin his spare room key card and passionately kissed him good-bye before heading down to the conference room.

* * *

Justin looked at himself in the full length three-way mirror as the salesgirl, Gretchen, bustled around him. Tony Bennett’s classic “Rags to Riches” was playing on the store’s sound system. Justin was wearing a black suit, which fit him perfectly, along with a white shirt, a black, blue, and gray striped tie, and black calf-skin leather shoes and belt. As he was putting everything on, he forced himself not to look at any visible price tags.

“Oh, Mr. Taylor, you look so  _delish_ ,” Gretchen said to him. “The blue in the tie makes those beautiful eyes of yours pop.”

Justin couldn’t deny that he did look pretty damn good in the suit, although he knew it was ridiculously expensive. What he was wearing could easily pay his rent for two months. Justin could not believe that Brian insisted on spending that kind of money on him after only knowing him for a day, no matter how rich he may have been.

Brian sent him to the boutique with strict instructions to choose two ties and two different colored shirts, as well as socks and underwear, a couple of undershirts, and a wallet. Brian informed him that they would buy him some more business-casual clothing to wear to the new office when they went shopping together that Saturday.

While Brian was on the phone with Cynthia the first time that morning, Justin snuck a look into Brian’s closet, where he had hung up several pieces of Armani clothing: three suits, four ties, five collared shirts, five t-shirts, three long-sleeved shirts, four pairs of jeans, and five undershirts. He noticed three pairs of Armani shoes lined up on the floor, as well at three Armani belts hanging with the clothes.

 _Christ, does he not wear anything else?_ Justin wondered.

Even if he had not looked into Brian’s closet, from the way that the sales associates at the boutique were treating him, Justin could easily guess that Brian was a frequent customer there. They knew ahead of time that his purchases that day would go onto Brian’s charge account, so they were treating him like royalty.

The employees at the store had fussed over him since he walked in the door.

_Good morning, Mr. Taylor._

_Would you like a latte, Mr. Taylor?_

_We could send for some croissants and danishes if you would like, Mr. Taylor._

_We hope to see you again soon, Mr. Taylor._

Once he was told that his purchases would be delivered to The Palace later that afternoon, Justin hopped back into the limo (still giddy that he was actually riding around the city in a limo) to stop by the bank to deposit the check that Brian wrote him for the portrait, and then he went to his and Daphne’s apartment.

* * *

After telling the driver to go grab himself some lunch, Justin practically danced up the three flights of stairs to his apartment, despite the pain in his ass, elated that he would soon be able to move himself and Daphne into a building with an elevator.

Justin unlocked the door and let himself in. After hanging his jean jacket in the closet, he looked around the living room and kitchen and did not see Daphne, so he opened up her bedroom door and flopped onto the bed. The still-sleeping Daphne woke up gasping from Justin bouncing around on top of her.

“What? What the fuck is going on?” Daphne yelled as she pulled her eye mask off her face.

“Oh… my… God, Daph!” Justin yelled, a huge smile on his face.

“Hey, you’re home. So, how’d it go last night?” Daphne asked with a mischievous smile.

All Justin could do was giggle as he lay down beside Daphne on her twin bed.

“You got fucked, didn’t you?” Daphne asked, sitting up to look at Justin.

“Repeatedly.”

Daphne screamed. “Oh, I knew it! Tell me  _everything_!”

“I wish I had the time, darling, but the limo will be back soon to pick me up,” Justin said, buffing his nails on his shirt.

“What?” Daphne asked, her eyes wide.

Justin sat up. “Daph, I just left the Armani store, where Brian sent me to buy a new suit.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“ _And_  he wants me to spend the whole week with him!”

“No!” Daphne exclaimed, her mouth dropped open.

“And not only that… I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone until he knew for sure, so you have to promise you won’t tell  _anyone_.”

Daphne linked her pinky with Justin’s. “I promise.”

Justin pulled his hand away. “He's pitching to some big company tomorrow, and he’s totally sure that he’s going to get the account. And after he does, he's going to open an office here in New York in the next couple of months.

"Daph, he offered me a job as his art director, where I’ll be pulling in a shit-load of money.”

Daphne gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. “Please tell me you said yes.”

“I said yes.”

Daphne screamed again and grabbed Justin’s face, kissing him on the lips. “Holy shit! That’s fucking awesome!”

“Yep. I'm going to try to sell some paintings in the meantime, but,” Justin said as stood up from the bed, “I’ve got to pack and get back to the hotel. Prince Charming is taking me to dinner at some fancy-schmancy restaurant to meet the client tonight.”

“Ooh la la,” Daphne said as Justin went into his room.

He changed into blue jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt and loaded a duffle bag with the nicest clothes he owned. After he grabbed some toiletries from the bathroom, he hugged and kissed Daphne good-bye, grabbed his faux leather jacket that his mom bought him for Christmas the previous year, and skipped back down the stairs to wait for the limo to take him back to the hotel.

* * *

While Justin was walking into the foyer of Brian’s suite, he could faintly hear the chorus of Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes’s “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” playing from somewhere in the living room. As he walked farther into the room, the song got louder.

He turned to look toward the desk and saw Brian’s flip phone, which was attached to a charging cable plugged into an outlet under the desk, sitting on the desk chair. He sat his duffle bag onto the floor and picked up the phone.

The display on the outside said that a “Mikey” was calling, and then the song stopped playing as the call went to voicemail. Out of curiosity, Justin opened the phone and saw that Brian had nine missed calls, four text messages, and five voice mails.

As he went to look at the call log to see who had been calling, Justin heard the sound of the suite’s door being unlocked. He quickly flipped the phone closed, sat it back on the chair where he found it, and turned around just as Brian came walking in the door.

Brian walked into the living room and smiled when he saw Justin. “Hey, I was hoping you’d be back.”

Justin threw his arms around Brian’s neck and planted a sloppy kiss on him. “Just got here.”

Brian looked down at Justin’s duffle and said, “I see you brought your stuff. Did you pick out a suit?”

“Yep, I bought everything on your shopping list. It will all be delivered later,” Justin answered.

“Good. I came up to see if you wanted to go grab a quick lunch.”

“Sure,” Justin answered. “Uh… you left your cell phone on the charger.” He pointed to the phone sitting in the chair.

Brian picked the phone up and pulled the charging cord out of it. “Ugh, this fucking thing. They only made cell phones so all the annoying assholes in your life can keep tabs on you.”

Justin laughed as Brian put the phone in his suit pocket without looking to see if he had any missed calls or messages. “That reminds me, you will be getting a cell phone delivered to you later today...”


	6. Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Justin smiled brightly when he heard Brian wolf-whistle behind him.

" _Damn_ , you look hot," Brian said as walked up behind Justin and put his hands on the blonde's slender hips. The men were standing in front of the large mirror in the bathroom, both dressed in Armani suits- Justin in the black one he chose that morning and Brian in a dark grey one. "You clean up very nicely, Sunshine. Too bad we have to be at dinner in an hour, or I'd rip this right off of you..."

Justin felt Brian press his semi-hard dick into his lower back. "Will you let me wear it in public once before you rip my brand new, expensive suit... that you paid big bucks for?" Justin asked as he smiled back at Brian's reflection.

Brian spun Justin around to straighten the knot of his tie. "You did a good job with this; I wouldn't have guessed that you'd know how to tie a tie."

"Please, I had to wear a tie every day to school. I was stuck in a private penitentiary for twelve years."

"Wow... I'm so happy my broke-ass parents couldn't afford to send me to a private school," Brian said. "It was hard enough being a fag at a public school."

Justin raised a hand to fix a few stands of Brian's hair that were out of place and asked, "So, are you going to tell me who this big mystery client is that I will have to suffer through a ludicrously expensive meal with and watch you kiss the ass of tonight?"

Brian tapped his fingers over the lapels of Justin's suit jacket. "Why don't you take a wild guess."

"Armani?" Justin asked, his eyes wide.

"Ding ding ding. I've given them enough of my money over the past several years, and it's time they pay me back," Brian said as he turned to walk into the bedroom.

"The people at the store were drooling all over me... I knew it wasn't just because I'm cute," Justin said as he followed Brian.

"They shouldn't know that I'm meeting with their U.S. reps. They were fawning over you because they knew that I am rarely out of there for less than ten thousand dollars, and you were there on my tab...  _and_  because you're cute," Brian said, smiling. "Of course, one of my contingencies with the deal will be to get their new seasonal collections for free before they go out in stores."

Justin took his new cell phone and wallet off of the dresser and put them in his pockets. "So, do you only wear Armani? Cause I peeked into your closet earlier, and..."

"No, I wear several different brands: Prada, Gucci, Hugo Boss... but don't tell the Armani guys that tonight, huh?" Brian said, cupping Justin's chin and giving him a tender kiss.

* * *

 Justin was sitting in a booth next to Brian, reading the menu at the upscale French restaurant Le Bernardin, trying not to visibly show his disgust.

J _esus... I know that this is a fancy restaurant, but would it kill them to actually cook the food_? he asked himself.

He had gotten used to seeing undercooked fish at his previous job at Eleven Madison Avenue, but he never ate any of it. Not only did Justin have to pick something from this menu, but he had to eat it, too.

"Have you decided what you'd like, Mr. Taylor?" a rep from Armani, a man that Brian introduced him to as "Mr. Klein," asked him. "The chef here is amazing. I have never had one bad dish here."

Justin looked up at the older man, who he guessed had hair plugs and looked as if he lived in a tanning bed. "Uh..." the blonde said uneasily. "There's just so much to choose from..."

Brian snickered slightly, placing his hand on Justin's thigh under the table and giving it a light squeeze. "They'll cook anything you want more thoroughly, if you don't like raw or undercooked fish," he whispered behind his menu.

The server came back to the table to take their orders. Mr. Klein ordered the octopus (which made Justin gag slightly); the other rep from Armani, a very effeminate brunette appearing to be in his thirties, who told Justin to "just call me Quinn," ordered the geoduck clam (which is pronounced "gooey duck" and made Justin suck in a breath to hold back a bark of laughter as he imagined a duck covered in semen); and Brian ordered the baked cod. When the server looked at Justin for his order, he looked back at her nervously.

"Bring him the filet mignon, medium," Brian said for him. He turned to Justin to take his menu and smiled. Justin gratefully smiled and squeezed Brian's thigh back.

"So, Brian," Quinn said, deliberately pronouncing each syllable. "You say that Justin here is an 'associate' of yours; what  _exactly_  does that mean?"

Justin and Brian both noticed Quinn looking at Justin as if he wished he could order  _him_  off of the menu.

Brian answered, "I recently hired Mr. Taylor as my new art director."

"Ah..." Quinn said, taking a sip of his wine, eyeballing Justin over his glass. "So, tell me,  _Mr. Taylor_ ," saying it like he was describing Venice at sunset, "what is it like to work for a man like Brian Kinney?"

Justin took a deep breath and said, "Well, uh... I haven't actually begun to work for Brian... ahem, Mr. Kinney, just yet-"

"Mr. Taylor will be an instrumental part of my new team," Brian cut in, "once we begin to create the second phase of your new campaign, that is."

Mr. Klein chuckled slightly. "Well, we shall see about that after we see what you have to present to us tomorrow, Mr. Kinney."

"We certainly shall," Brian said, confidently.

"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" quietly began to play in Brian's suit jacket. He reached into his pocket and hit a button on the phone to silence it, an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Sorry about that," Brian said to the men across the table.

"So," Quinn said, "we should expect to see more of you in the future, eh, _Mr. Taylor_? That is, if we choose to sign with Kinnetik..."

Brian cleared his throat. "Why yes, Quinn. Mr. Taylor and I will be working  _very_  closely together, creating the boards for Armani's fall campaign."

As Mr. Klein took a breath to say something, Quinn said, "So,  _Mr. Taylor_ , I assume that you are an artist, then? Might I have seen your work displayed somewhere before?"

"I've had some pieces shown at a few small galleries in Chelsea; probably not any shows that you would have gone to," Justin said uneasily.

Before Quinn could ask  _Mr. Taylor_  another question, Brian chimed in. "Justin mainly works on commission. He does amazing portraits, as well as abstracts and landscapes," he stated, remembering the pieces he saw hanging up in Justin and Daphne's apartment the previous evening.

"Portraits?" Quinn inquired, the wheels in his head obviously turning.

"Yes..." Justin began to say.

"But, Justin is highly in demand; from what he told me, he has a  _very_  long waiting list," Brian said.

Justin nearly spat out his wine all over the table.

Not a moment too soon, the server brought out their entrees.

* * *

Brian and Justin had just climbed into the limo to go back to the hotel when Brian asked, "So,  _Mr. Taylor_..." repeating it in the same syrupy voice Quinn had repeatedly used, "what did you think of Quinn?"

Justin laughed. "Uh... he's your potential client. I don't want to talk shit..."

"No, no, shit-talk away," Brian said with a smile. " _Mr. Taylor_."

"Seriously? I was waiting for him to crawl under the table and start sucking my dick like you and Mr. Leatherface weren't even there."

"I wouldn't have been surprised if he had tried... but, he would have to get rid of me, first." Brian turned to crouch between Justin's legs and undid Justin's belt and fly. Pulling out his cock, Brian stroked him to hardness and took Justin deep into his throat, quickly bring Justin to fruition.

When the boys got back to The Palace, they rushed through the lobby and to elevators, barely able to wait until they could get each other naked. They stood in the elevator side by side next to a lady that looked like she was over a hundred, listening to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," by Elton John and Kiki Dee on the way up to their floor.

The elevator stopped on the 36th floor, and the old lady slowly shuffled off, her walker clacking with every step. If it wasn't for the elevator attendant keeping them company, Brian would have shoved Justin up against the wall of the elevator car and devoured his mouth. Instead, the doors closed, and the boys rode up to the 42nd floor, bopping their heads along with the music.

The elevator doors opened again, and Brian and Justin got out and briskly walked down the hallway to Brian's suite. Brian slipped the keycard into the slot and shoved the door open, dragging Justin in behind him by his tie. Brian bolted the door, and the boys began discarding their jackets, ties, belts, shoes, socks, shirts, pants, and underwear in a trail from the main door to the bed, kissing and licking each other along the way.

Justin roughly shoved Brian onto the bed. Brian moved around so that his head was on the pillow, and Justin climbed on top of him. He made a trail of kisses down to Brian's pubic hair, stopping before he got to his dick.

Before Brian realized what was happening, Justin grabbed him by his right shoulder and quickly turned him over onto his stomach. Justin started from the top and began trailing kisses and licks down Brian's spine, causing Brian to shiver at the sensation. When Justin got to Brian's crack, he stiffened slightly.

"Relax, stud," Justin said.

He straddled Brian's thighs and began to knead Brian's butt cheeks with his fingers. Brian let out a breath and Justin noticed the toned muscles in Brian's back and ass loosen up. Justin lifted up and put his right knee in between Brian's legs to make him spread out. He then knelt between Brian's legs and lightly blew between Brian's butt cheeks, making Brian clench and giggle a bit.

"What, is Mr. Big, Bad Cock's tushy ticklish?" Justin asked.

"A little," Brian answered quietly.

Justin exhaled a warm breath between Brian's cheeks, making him relax again. Justin then stuck out his tongue and licked a strip up Brian's crack from his perineum to his tailbone, causing Brian to inhale sharply. Justin lightly pulled his cheeks apart, licking Brian's tight hole.

Hearing Brian moan into the pillow, Justin pointed his tongue and poked it into Brian's hole, and began a variation of stabs and short flicks. A few moments later, Justin felt Brian begin to rise up onto his knees, and Justin followed him.

He gave Brian a moment to get comfortable, watching him ball up the pillow in his arms for support. Justin then continued to rim Brian, and reached around with his right hand to slowly stroke Brian's dripping cock.

"Mmm... fuck me, Justin" Brian whispered.

"What?" Justin licked up Brian's crack again, then sat back to watch Brian's asshole contract.

"Fuck me," Brian said in his normal volume.

Justin licked his index finger and stuck it into Brian's ass. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you..."

Brian looked back over his shoulder, and yelled, "I said, FUCK ME!"

"Yes, sir," Justin said as he got up and opened the drawer of the night stand, pulling out a condom and the lube. He resumed his position behind Brian, sat the condom on the blanket beside him, and poured a few drops of lube onto his fingers. He spent a minute prepping Brian, making the older man moan between breaths.

"Justin... ugh... now," Brian said, panting.

Justin then opened the condom packet and rolled it onto his dick, then coated it liberally with lube. He stuck two fingers into Brian and asked, "What was that you said earlier?"

Brian laughed. "You heard me, you little twat."

Not wasting any more time, Justin pulled his fingers out and slowly began pushing the head of his dick into Brian. Feeling some resistance, Justin bent over and kissed Brian's back. "Let me in, you sexy beast," Justin whispered. He felt Brian relax, and he swiftly pushed all the way in.

"Oh, shit!" Brian yelled out.

Justin gasped and froze. "You okay?"

He watched Brian pull himself forward, causing Justin's dick to slide out a bit, and then shove back onto him hard, groaning in pleasure. Justin cried out, feeling Brian clamp tightly around him, and Justin began forcefully thrusting into Brian, holding onto his hips for dear life. Soon, Justin noticed that Brian pulled his right arm from beneath the bunched up pillow and grabbed onto his dick. Justin let go of Brian's right hip and pulled his hand off, grabbing onto the long, thick shaft with his own hand, which was still slick from the lube. He began to jerk Brian off in time with his thrusts, causing Brian to whimper into the pillow and tighten up on him even more.

Justin only had to pump a few more times before Brian bit down into the pillow and growled like a wild animal. Justin felt Brian's warm cum cover his fingers and his asshole squeeze his dick like a vise, causing Justin to cum a moment after, screaming out random prayers and obscenities. After the waves of their orgasms subsided, both men fell over onto their left sides, with Justin's dick still inside.

"Oh..." Brian moaned. " _Mr. Taylor_."

Justin brought his cum-covered hand up to his mouth and licked some of it off. "Uhhh-huh," he agreed.

Brian reached behind himself and grasped the ring of the condom securely around the base of Justin's dick, and pulled Justin out of him. He rolled over to face Justin and caressed his cheek. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, as if he was contemplating saying something. Instead, he exhaled and stared into Justin's eyes, a slight smile on his gorgeous face.

"What?" Justin asked.

"That's the first time I've bottomed in like, six years," Brian answered.

"Wow... lucky me."

Brian chuckled and gripped the back of Justin's neck, pulling him in for a long kiss.

After Brian used a wet wash cloth to clean up the mess he made on the sheets, they each cleaned themselves off in the bathroom, and then went out into the living room to pick up their discarded clothes and shoes. They hung up their suits and crawled back into bed together.

Brian turned the TV on and flipped through the channels until he found AMC, which had just begun airing one of Brian's favorite movies,  _One-Eyed Jacks_ , starring Marlon Brando. They watched the movie together, with Brian mouthing all of the dialog. Justin rode Brian's dick after it was over, and then they fell asleep together, Brian spooning behind Justin with his nose buried in the golden locks, their arms and legs twined together tightly.

* * *

Just as he did the previous morning, Brian woke up when he heard someone banging rapidly on the door of his suite at seven AM. "Fucking Schmidt," he hissed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

He looked over to his left, where Justin was still sleeping soundly, looking like a little angel. Brian then flipped the alarm clock switch off, since he had set it to wake him up at eight.

With the knocking not letting up, Brian got out of bed, threw on a robe, and shut the bedroom door behind him as he made his way into the living room. He walked over to the door, not bothering to look in the peep hole, and turned the lock.

He jerked the door open and found himself face-to-face with his boyfriend and best friend, Michael Novotny.

Michael shoved Brian out of the way as he stomped into the living room, turning around to look at him as Brian let the door close behind him. Brian noticed that Michael had at least two days of beard growth on his normally clean-shaven face, and he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Because it was nearly an six-hour drive, he guessed that Michael must have left Pittsburgh sometime after midnight and drove all through the night to confront him.

"Well?" Michael asked, his eyes bloodshot.

Brian played dumb. "Well, what?"

Michael looked down at his feet and laughed sarcastically. He looked back up, an enraged look on his face, and asked, "Why the fuck have you not returned my calls in the past, oh, thirty-six hours?"

"Mikey..." Brian began.

"You know what, Brian? I don't want to hear any more of your bullshit! I am sick and fucking tired of you always putting your career in front of me. And if it's not your career, it's some trick!" Michael yelled as he began pacing, throwing his arms around. "I knew that when we got together- that you were still going to be  _Brian Fucking Kinney_. I knew that I probably couldn't tame the wild stallion, but I hoped that since it was  _you and me_  that you might decide to finally settle down and grow up!"

"Grow up?" Brian yelled, stepping in front of Michael. " _I_  need to grow up? You have a lot of fucking nerve telling someone that they need to grow up! What, you think that because you own your own business, that you're a grown up? You own a comic book store, Michael! Your average client is a junior high student buying comics with his allowance! You barely break even at the end of each month.

"You think that because you and The Nutty Professor took in a foster kid, that you're a grown up? Hunter chose to stay with Ben when you guys broke up, not with you, remember?

Brian continued, "You think that because you have a kid on the way, that you're a grown up? Trust me, if Mel didn't hate me so much, she wouldn't have asked you for your sperm! Linds wanted me to father their next child, not you! If it was up to that cunt, Mel, you wouldn't have anything to do with that kid, just like she wishes that I never saw my son. Gus is three years old, and him being born didn't make me a grown up, did it? Oh, oh... and don't even get me started on your  _mother_!"

"Shut up, Brian!" Michael shouted, tears streaming down his face.

"You are thirty-three years old, and you still have to ask your mother's permission to do anything! I'm surprised she allows you to wipe your own ass!"

Michael slapped Brian across his face. "I said, shut the fuck up!"

"No! Michael... you want to know the truth?  _I_  am sick and fucking tired of your bullshit! Do you know why we started seeing each other in the first place? I felt sorry for you! It wasn't because I was in love with you! It was a pity fuck that shouldn't have ever happened. I only let it happen because I didn't want to see you fall apart. Vic had recently died, Ben just broke your heart, and I didn't want you to lose all three of your superheroes in such as short amount of time. So I stupidly let you believe that everything was going to be alright; that I would love you like you always dreamed, make love to you every night for the rest of our lives, and that maybe we might even someday get married and have little brats of our own. So I let you move in to my loft, I bought you a car, a new wardrobe, paid off your store and your mom's house..."

The men turned when they heard the bedroom door open and Justin walked out fully dressed, with his messenger bag over his shoulder and his duffel bag in his hand. His face was red, and tears were dripping off of his cheeks.

"Oh, I should have fucking known!" Michael screamed as he walked into the dining room and placed his hands on top of the table, his back to the two other men.

"Justin..." Brian said, realizing that Justin had probably heard most of that exchange.

Without a word, Justin quickly walked to the door, yanked it open, and started to make his way down the hall towards the elevators. Brian followed after him, still wearing only a hotel robe and no shoes.

"Justin, please..."

Justin got to the elevators and pressed the down arrow. He turned to look at Brian, a hard glare on his face. "Please, what?"

"Let me explain," Brian begged.

"Explain what? That the last two days have been a lie? That you've had a boyfriend back in Pittsburgh this whole time? That you were going to spend the week fucking me, making me think that you actually gave a shit about me, and then go back home to  _him_?" Justin yelled, wiping the tears off of his face.

"I should have told you..." Brian began to say, his eyes beginning to glisten.

"Why would you have told me? All you wanted to do was use me; why the fuck would you have told me you had a boyfriend, huh? I probably wouldn't have fucked you then, would I?"

The elevator doors opened, and the elevator attendant looked out. "Going down, sir?"

"Yes," Justin said as he stepped onto the elevator.

Brian put his foot in the doorway to prevent the doors from closing. "Justin, please don't leave like this."

"Fuck off, Brian!" Justin screamed, kicking Brian's leg so he would move it.

Brian jumped back, and the doors closed.


	7. Jaded

“Shit,” Brian said as he wiped his damp eyes with the sleeve of the robe. After staring at his reflection in the shiny elevator doors for a moment, he turned and walked back up the hallway to his room, wondering how the fuck he was ever going to fix this. Once he got back to the door of his room, Brian remembered that he left the room without taking a key, and that Michael was still inside.

“Mother fuck,” he whispered through clenched teeth as he lifted his fist to knock on the door. After waiting for a few seconds with no response, he knocked again, harder this time. Several seconds went by, and Michael still had not come to answer.

“Goddamn it Michael, open the door!” Brian yelled, banging on the door again. A man from the room across the hall opened his door and stuck his head out.

“Is everything alright?” the man asked.

“It won’t be if this asshole doesn’t open the fucking door!” Brian roared as he banged on it again.

Then, Brian heard Michael’s voice on the other side of the door. “Why should I open it?” 

“Probably because this is my room, dumb ass!” Brian yelled back.

“I’m calling security. I’m tired of all of this yelling and cursing,” the man said as he turned to walk back into his room.

Finally, a few moments later, Michael cracked the door a couple of inches. Brian had to force the door open with all of his weight to get in, which shoved Michael into the wall. Brian then stomped back in to the room.

“Oww, Jesus!” Michael screamed, rubbing his shoulder.

Brian turned around and yelled, “What the fuck are you still doing here?”

“Well, I was hoping that we could talk and sort things out-”

“There is nothing to sort out! We’re through, Michael. This was a mistake from the beginning, alright? So, get the fuck out of here and go home!”

“You don’t mean that!” Michael screeched.

“Oh, yes I do!” Brian answered, his face inches from Michael’s. “And all your shit better be out of my loft when I get back home Sunday.”

“Brian…” Michael pleaded.

Just then, the room phone began to ring. Brian walked over and snatched it up.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Sir, this is hotel security,” the man on the other end said. “We’ve had a noise complaint from someone on your floor, and something about a man in the hallway trying to get into the room…”

“Everything’s fine,” Brian answered. “We’re just having a little disagreement.”

He put the phone up against his chest and asked Michael, “Am I going to have to ask security to come up and haul your ass out of here?”

“No, I’m leaving,” Michael said, pouting.

Brian put the phone back up to his ear and repeated, “Everything’s fine.”

“Okay, just please keep the noise down.”

“Will do,” Brian said, and hung up the phone as Michael pulled the door open to leave.

“Brian?”

Brian closed his eyes and abrasively answered, “What?”

“This… this can’t be it, can it?” Michael asked, his voice cracking. “I mean…”

Brian looked through the window in front of him at the church across the street. “Michael… Go.”

He heard Michael’s footsteps retreating, followed by the door closing behind him. Brian sighed roughly and rubbed his hands over his eyes. After taking a few calming breaths, he picked up his cell phone that was sitting on the desk and pulled the charging cord out of it.

Flipping the phone open and scrolling through his contact list, he hit the “Send” button when he came to Justin’s name. Brian had added the number for the new cell phone that he bought for him the day before.

A moment later, Brian could hear a generic ring tone coming from the bedroom. He sighed and hung his phone up, then sat it back on the desk. Brian walked into the bedroom and found Justin’s cell sitting on the dresser, along with his extra key card.

He picked the phone up and looked through Justin’s contact list to see who he had added to it. The only two numbers saved in the list were his and one called “Home.” Brian figured that because it had only been a few minutes since Justin left, it would be a while before he found his way back to his apartment.

Brian turned his head when he heard his cell phone begin to play the chorus of Madonna’s “Material Girl,” which was the ring tone he had saved for Cynthia’s number. Brian sat Justin’s phone back on the dresser and walked out into the living room to answer his phone.

“Yep,” Brian somberly answered.

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you were awake,” Cynthia said. “Remember, we’re meeting in the conference room at nine, and then we have to get over to the Armani office before ten.”

“Yes, Warden,” Brian murmured.  

“You alright, boss?” Cynthia asked, hearing the sad tone in Brian’s voice.

Brian sighed and said, “Yeah, I’ll be down at nine.” He flipped the phone closed and sat it back down on the desk.

* * *

Justin unlocked the door and turned the knob, flinging the door open. He ripped his keys out of the door and threw them carelessly onto the floor. After he slammed the door closed, Justin walked through the small living room and into his bedroom, where he threw his duffel bag, messenger bag, and jacket onto the floor.

He then kicked his shoes off and threw himself face-down onto his bed, then balled his pillow up and screamed into it. A moment later, Daphne shuffled into Justin’s open doorway, wearing a long Princess Jasmine night gown, her curly hair standing up in all directions.

“I thought I heard you come in,” Daphne said, scratching the back of her neck.

Justin looked up and turned when he heard her voice, his face red from crying.

Daphne noticed Justin’s miserable appearance and asked, “What’s wrong, Boo?” She walked over to his bed and sat down beside him, placing her hand on his back.

Justin laid the side of his head on his pillow and mumbled, “That fucking asshole…”

“Who, Brian? What’d he do?”

“He fucking lied to me, Daph… or rather, he omitted, which is as bad as lying,” Justin said, sniffling hard. “He’s had a boyfriend this whole time. I had the displeasure of meeting him this morning.”

Daphne huffed out a breath. “That bastard.”

“The guy showed up out of the blue, and I woke up hearing him and Brian having a screaming match out in the living room.” Justin sat up, crossed his legs Indian-style, and continued. “Get this: not only does Brian have a boyfriend, but they live together. He bought the guy a car, paid off his comic book store, his mother’s house…. Oh, _and_  Brian has a kid that he didn’t tell me about.”

“God…” Daphne said, shaking her head.

Justin rubbed his eyes. “I mean, we weren’t technically dating, but he’s been fucking me for the past two nights, so I think I had the right to know that he had someone waiting for him at home. I went with him to his business dinner last night, and he introduced me as his ‘associate,’ which is technically true, I guess. I thought I was only there as his date, but then one of the clients started flirting with me, and Brian told him that I was his new art director.

"He  _did_ offer me the job, and I accepted it, but I’m not working for him yet, so in reality, all I really was to him at the moment was a fuck.”

“But that doesn’t excuse him for not being truthful with you," Daphne reminded Justin. "He did ask you to spend the week with him."

“Yeah, as his ‘fuck buddy’ and ‘arm candy’- his words,” Justin answered, shaking his head. “How could I have been so stupid? This rich, gorgeous guy gives me a thousand dollars to make a nude portrait of him, and as soon as I was finished with it, I jumped him like a horny teenager!”

“Nude?” Daphne asked.

“Yeah! When we got to his hotel room Monday night, he said he wanted me to do it of him nude. He took his clothes off, and I wanted to suck his dick right then and there. Then the next morning, he offers me a job and says that we were going to be spending a lot of time working together- ‘long, hard hours.’ That clearly meant that he intended for it to be more than just this week; at least that’s what I thought… He led me on into believing that he actually wanted to be with me.”

“Well, obviously it wouldn’t have been a committed relationship; he has a boyfriend at home.”

Justin sighed. “The way that Brian was talking to him, it doesn’t sound like they are going to be together much longer… that was even before I walked out and made my presence known. The guy screamed out ‘I should have known’ when he saw me, like he wasn’t surprised that Brian would have someone there.”

“What’d the guy look like? Was he as hot as you?” Daphne asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Justin curled his top lip. “He was kind of cute, but I probably wouldn’t fuck him. Definitely  _not_ hotter than me… But that doesn’t matter. I never want to see that piece of shit again. He can take his money, his job offer, and his huge cock and shove them all up his ass.”

* * *

Brian was sitting in a comfortable leather chair behind a large conference table, listening to his advertising associate, Jared, make the pitch to several of Armani’s U.S. representatives, including Mr. Klein and “just call me Quinn.” Although this was one of the most important meetings of his career, as well as a very important meeting for his company’s future, Brian couldn’t help but think about Justin and the mess that he created with him.

How could he have been so selfish? Was Justin right? Did he not tell him about Michael just so he could fuck him? At first, that may have been the case. But, as much as Brian hated to admit it, the blonde quickly began to grow on him.

After spending only one night with him, he knew that Justin was different. While Justin was sketching him, it took every bit of strength Brian possessed to not jump off of the bed and eat Justin alive. He was surprised he didn’t cum all over himself like a little virgin while Justin was sketching his naked body. Once Justin was done with the portrait and began kissing and touching him, Brian felt a surge of energy flow through his body like he had never felt before.

It had been several years since Brian had gone down on a guy, but before fucking Justin, Brian wanted nothing more than to taste the beautiful blonde, feel his dick in his mouth, and have his cum run down his throat. It had been even longer since Brian had wanted to cuddle with someone after fucking, let alone fall asleep with him in his arms. He rarely even wanted to hold Michael for very long after they got done. Never before had Brian thought about offering a job to a trick- mostly because he never wanted one to stick around beyond the alarm clock going off.

“… and we will put up the billboards in all the big 'gay neighborhoods' around the country: Liberty Avenue in our hometown of Pittsburgh, Chelsea here in Manhattan, The Castro in San Francisco, South Beach in Miami… the list goes on," Jared said.

“I’ve always said that we should focus more on marketing to the gay demographic; they are some of the biggest label queens on the planet!” Quinn remarked, looking very proud of himself for pointing out the obvious.

“And it would be great if we could find a young gay or gay-friendly celebrity to be the new face for the campaign,” Jared added.

“Ooh! I vote for Jai Rodriquez from  _Queer Eye for the Straight Guy_ … he is so hot,” Quinn stated.  

“Any suggestions, Brian?” Ted, who was wearing the only Armani suit he owned, asked, noticing that Brian didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

“Hmm? Oh… any hot, young guy with a tight ass will do,” Brian said, putting an elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand.

Quinn laughed. “I bet that’s your only requirement, ever, especially considering your dinner companion from last night… where is  _Mr. Taylor_ today?”

Ted looked over at Brian, confused. “Mr. Taylor?”

“Yes- that’s Kinnetik’s new art director,” Quinn answered.

“I don’t know of any new art director,” Ted said, tilting his head at Brian.

Brian glanced at his watch. “We only have a verbal agreement right now; I was going to officially hire him after today’s meeting.”

 _If it will ever end_ , he thought to himself.

Jared continued, “And, of course, we should target the younger demographic with the Armani Exchange collections…”

* * *

The limo driver pulled over in front of the apartment building and cut the engine. Brian pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called Justin and Daphne’s home number, which he lifted from Justin’s cell and saved to his own. It rang three times, and then someone picked up.

“Hel-lo-o,” Daphne sang out sweetly.

“Hey Daphne, it’s Brian. Is Justin there?”

* _Click_ *

“Shit,” Brian whispered as he hit the buttons to redial.

He figured that by now, Daphne would know the full details of what had happened in his hotel room that morning. The phone rang six times before the answering machine picked up. Brian had stepped out of the limo and walked onto the sidewalk, looking up at the building and wondering which windows belonged to them, when the message began.

“Hi, you have reached the hovel of the delectable Daphne Chanders and the scrumptious Justin Taylor,” Daphne said enthusiastically. “We either aren’t home right now, or we’re passed out drunk on the floor, so please leave us your name and number, and we will try our damndest to call you back just as soon as is humanly possible. Say thank you, Justin.”

“Thank you, Justin,” Justin repeated.

* _Beep_ *

Just as Brian was about to take a breath to begin speaking, he saw a window on the fourth floor open and Daphne’s head peek out.

“What do you want, ass wipe?” she yelled down.

“I need to talk to him. Is he up there?” Brian asked into his phone so he wouldn’t have to yell.

“Even if he was, I wouldn’t let you in, you lying sack of shit.”

Brian sighed. “So he’s not home, then?”

“Fuck off, Brian,” Daphne answered as she pulled back and slammed the window shut.

Brian closed his phone to end the call. “Those two must be twins,” he said out loud to himself.

Staring down at the sidewalk, an idea popped into Brian’s head. He climbed back into the car and told his driver where to go.

* * *

Justin was in the middle of sketching the view of the pond and the trees in front of him when he heard a car stop on the road behind him.

“Sunshine.”

Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He looked over his shoulder a moment later and saw Brian sitting in the back of the limo with the window down. He turned back around and resumed sketching.

Brian told the driver to turn off the car, and he got out and started walking towards Justin.

“I thought you’d be here,” Brian said as he stopped a couple of feet behind the blonde, who was sitting on his little camping stool. “Nice sketch.”

Justin sat up a bit straighter, still continuing his sketch. He felt Brian place his warm hand on his right shoulder a second later.

“Don’t touch me,” Justin said, not stopping his work.

Brian removed his hand and put it in his pants pocket. “Will you please talk to me?”

“We have nothing to talk about, Mr. Kinney. Will you kindly leave me alone?”

Brian walked around to stand in front of Justin, who made it a point to not look up.

“Justin…”

Justin continued to stare at the sketch pad, his hand shading in a tree trunk.

Suddenly, Brian grabbed the top of Justin’s sketch pad and pulled it off of the easel.

“Goddamn it, Brian, get the fuck out of here!” Justin yelled, his sweet face pulled tightly into a scowl.

Brian tucked the sketch pad under his arm and bent over to pick up Justin’s messenger bag. “Let’s go to the hotel.” He slung the bag over his shoulder, walked back to the limo, and opened the door.

Admitting temporary defeat, Justin stuck the charcoal pencil he was still holding into the pocket of his jeans, broke down his easel and camping stool, and carried them over to the limo. He threw his stuff onto the floor of the limo and said, “I’ll listen to what you have to say; that doesn’t mean I will believe you or accept any feeble apologies that you may have to offer.”

“Okay,” Brian said.

Justin climbed into the car and Brian followed, shutting the door. The driver started the engine and began to drive out of the park.

Justin pulled the pencil out of his pocket and shoved it into his bag. “So, where’s Michael?” he asked in a sardonic tone, ripping the sketch pad out of Brian’s hands and putting it in the bag. Justin then moved to the seat opposite Brian and started picking at a callus on his hand.

“I told him it was over and to get the fuck out. He went home, where I instructed him to get all of his shit out of my loft before I got back.”

Justin puckered his lips and continued looking at his hands.

“Justin… I was planning on breaking it off with him after I got home, even before I met you. See, Michael and I have been best friends since we were fourteen.” Brian looked down at his lap and continued, “Do you remember when we first met, I told you that my dad was an asshole? Well, he was an abusive, alcoholic asshole. Since I could remember, he regularly beat my ass; the older I got, the worse it would get. I didn’t have any close friends until I met Michael.

"I had known for a while that I was probably gay, and when I met him, I felt right away that he probably was, too. That was one of the first things we bonded over, because we were the only gay kids we knew. Then one night, my old man really did a number on me. He lost most of his paycheck playing poker that night, and then came home and took it out on me. I was able to knock him down, and then I ran out the door and over to Michael’s house.”

Brian looked up at Justin, who was attentively staring back at him. Brian continued to look into Justin’s eyes and said, “When I got to his house, he and his mom were in the living room, watching TV. I was bruised and bleeding, and they took care of me. I begged them not to call the cops, and his mom let me stay the night. After that, I would often stay over at their house, just to avoid my dad. I spent more time over there then I did at home.

"I always knew that Michael had feelings for me, but I never really let on that I knew. Michael was always too chicken-shit to try to make a move on me, so we just stayed good friends up until a couple of months ago. He showed up at my place one night when I was watching TV and smoking pot, and he told me that his partner had confessed that he had cheated on him. We ended up getting bombed out of our minds, and one thing led to another…”

Justin rolled his eyes.

Brian continued, “Anyway, one of the main reasons that I always just wanted to stay friends with him was because I knew that if anything were to ever happen with us, I would regret. And, I was right…”

Brian stopped for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. He loosened his tie and said, “Justin, I have to explain a few things about myself: before Michael, I never had a real boyfriend or partner before, ever. I didn’t do boyfriends; I made a rule about that back in college after a guy I was fucking on a semi-regular basis ended up hurting me.

"I won’t lie; I have fucked  _a lot_  of guys in my time, and most of them I never fucked more than once. If I ever did, it would be months or years in between. At this point, I’ve probably been with nearly every do-able fag in Pittsburgh, so I have to do repeats every once in a while.”

Justin snorted, shaking his head. He let Brian carry on. “I would rarely go to a guy’s house with him, and I would rarely let them stay the night with me. Usually, I’d either let them suck me off or I’d fuck them against a wall, and that would be it. I certainly never fucked any guy I considered a friend; the few friends I actually have, that is. So, when Michael and I fucked that first time, it was a big deal.

"Like you may have heard me say to him, I was afraid to tell him that I just wanted to go back to the way things were before, because he was already heartbroken over his boyfriend cheating on him, and because his Uncle Vic had just died suddenly from AIDS-related complications a couple months before that. Also, I have always felt like I had to protect Michael. See, he was a big comic book geek when we were kids. Hell, he still is, but it was a bigger deal then. The jocks and other assholes would always pick on him, and I would stick up for him. I’d let them hit me before I would let them get near him. So even now, I hate to see anyone hurt him.  _I_ didn’t want to hurt him, but I just couldn’t take it anymore…”

Suddenly, the limo came to a stop in front of the hotel. The driver got out of the car and walked to the back door, opening it up for the guys. “Here we are, gentleman.” 

Brian grabbed Justin’s stool and easel and got out of the car, waiting on the sidewalk for Justin to join him. Justin grabbed his messenger bag and climbed out, and the guys walked into the hotel.


	8. Please Forgive Me

Brian and Justin walked into Brian’s hotel suite, both feeling very uneasy. Brian was mentally exhausted from all the talking he did during the limo ride, and he knew that he was only beginning to explain himself.

He walked into the living room and sat Justin’s stool and easel on the floor beside the desk. He then walked into the kitchen and reached into the refrigerator for two bottles of water. After opening one for himself and taking a drink, he asked Justin, who was shuffling his feet in the foyer, “Did you eat lunch?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I had a turkey sandwich before I went to the park.”

“Good. They catered in Italian food for us after the meeting,” Brian said as he gave the other bottle to Justin.

Justin, who had promised himself and Daphne that Brian was history, couldn’t believe that he was back in Brian’s hotel room. While it would have been improper to talk in the park where everyone and their grandma could hear then, he felt vulnerable being in Brian’s space.

He opened his bottled water and took a long pull from it. He walked over and sat down on one of the arm chairs so Brian couldn’t sit next to him. Brian sat down on the couch and sat his bottle down on the coffee table, looking at a loss for words.

“So, how  _did_ the meeting go?” Justin asked. Until then, he had forgotten that the Armani meeting was that morning.

“Great, just like I hoped. Quinn was  _very_ upset that you weren’t there,” Brian said, trying to make Justin smile.

He didn’t; he rolled his eyes instead.

“They loved our ideas, and they signed with us, right then and there. We were the fourth agency they’ve met with in the past week, and our ideas were just what they were looking for.”

Justin politely said, “That’s great. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Me and my crew are going to start looking at office prices tomorrow; maybe go and see some available spaces.”

“That’s nice.” Justin took another drink.

Brian took a deep breath. “I still want you to come and work for me.”

“Brian…” Justin sat his bottle down on the table and stood up, putting his back to Brian.

Brian stood up and walked over to him, but refrained from touching him. “Justin, I need someone with your talent and passion, someone who knows what’s hot in today’s market.” Brian put his hands on Justin’s hips and leaned in to speak in his ear.

“And,” he whispered, “I need  _you_.”

Justin quickly turned around, a somber expression on his face. “Brian, I can’t do this right now.” He began to walk towards the door.

Brian grabbed Justin by his wrist and said, “Hey, you said you would listen to what I had to say, right?”

Justin looked into Brian’s hazel eyes, his own blue eyes shimmering. “Yeah.” He pulled his wrist out of Brian’s grasp and walked back over to the chair and sat.

Brian followed and sat back on the couch. “Alright… look, you remember how I told you that I made it a rule to not do boyfriends? Well, I also made it a rule never to apologize for anything, to not make excuses, or to have regrets. I always knew that it was selfish to be that way, but I think you know by now that I’m a selfish son of a bitch.”

Justin nodded.

Brian huffed out a breath. “Justin…” He looked down at his hands, frowning when he noticed that he had a hangnail. “I’m sorry for what I did. I essentially lied to you by not telling you about me and Michael. By asking you to stay the week with me, I basically made a short-term commitment to you. There is no excuse for not telling you the truth, other than, again, I’m a selfish son of a bitch...”

“Brian, look at me,” Justin instructed. Brian looked up, his sad eyes and mouth making him appear older than his thirty-three years. “These last couple of nights… was it all just sex to you?”

Brian pulled in his lips and thought for a second. “At first, it was. Like I said, I have fucked a lot of guys in my time. But, with you, I don’t know… it’s different. All the others, they were just warm bodies with holes, that’s all. A mouth or an ass. But you... Christ, I’m starting to sound like a lesbian.”

Both men chuckled for a moment.

“Keep going,” Justin prodded.

Brian raked his hand through his hair. “I… I don’t cuddle, okay? I don’t fall asleep with my arms wrapped around someone- not even with Michael. I don’t ask a random trick to stay with me. I don’t ask someone I’m fucking to go to a business dinner with me. I don’t think about them when I’m at work. I don’t tell them about my dad beating the shit out of me. I don’t follow after anybody. I don’t suck cock. And, I  _definitely_  don’t bottom… but, in the past two days, I’ve done all of those things with you. That’s… that’s gotta mean something, right?”

Justin smiled. “I think it means that you give a shit about me- whether you like it or not.”

Brian stood up and pulled Justin to his feet. He placed his hands on the sides of Justin’s neck. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Brian began to pull Justin’s face toward his for a kiss, but Justin turned his head away. “Wait.”

Brian raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Justin pulled Brian’s hands off of his neck and sat back in the chair. “ _I_  have a few things to say to  _you_ ,” he said, looking up at Brian. “Sit.”

Brian blinked a few times in disbelief, but sat back down on the couch, placing his right ankle over his left knee and clasping his hands in his lap.

Justin began, “Let me tell you a few things about  _me_. See, you may not be used to being honest with people or letting them in past your protective walls, but I am. You may have never had a real boyfriend before, but I have. I’ve had a few, actually. My last boyfriend was a violin player I met in the park one day, where he was playing for spare change.

"We went on a date, and he gave me this whole bit about wanting to really be with someone, to be able to tell them things he had never told anyone before. I trusted him with all my heart, and I truly fell in love with him. Then, the very first time he went out of town to play in a philharmonic performance, he cheated on me. I only found out when the guy showed up at his place a few days later with a bouquet of roses, hoping for more. But even after that, I always hoped that there was someone out there who would be honest with me... who would be my Prince Charming.”

“I can still be that for you- if you give me a chance,” Brian said.

“Prove it then. Take me out on a real date.”

Brian laughed. “You want me to wine and dine you?”

“Yes. I want you to buy me flowers, pick me up, take me to dinner and a Broadway show, then maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll come back here and make you beg me to fuck you.”

Brian laughed again. “Alright. If you want a fairy-tale date, you got it. Go back home, and I’ll pick you up properly at six.”

“Okay,” Justin said as he stood up to leave. “Oh… did I hear you right when you said that you had a son?”

Brian stood up and sighed, “Yeah, you heard it. Gus will be four in September; you remember my friend Lindsay from college? I gave her my sperm so she and Melanie, the ice queen she’s married to, could have a baby.”

He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, pulled out Gus’s preschool picture, and handed it to Justin. “I signed my parental rights over to them so Mel could adopt him, but I still get to see him whenever I want. Although I admit, I don’t see him as often as he wants me to.”

“He looks just like you,” Justin marveled.

Brian smiled and took the picture back. “Yep, it pisses Mel off; she and I have never really gotten along, because she knows that Linds used to be in love with me. Mel’s actually due to give birth pretty soon.”

“To Michael’s baby,” Justin added.

“Yeah; poor kid. Michael and I are going to be related via lesbians, once removed. Other than that, I doubt we’ll ever be able to go back to being friends.”

Justin noticed the sadness in Brian’s eyes. “You’re going to miss him, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but that was no reason for me to delay the inevitable and wait to end this 'relationship' we were in. I know I hurt him, but he knew who I was before we got involved. I never promised him that I would be faithful. He knew I fucked other guys… but, it seems that many of my policies have changed in the last couple of days, so that one might change soon, too.”

Brian smiled and walked Justin to the door. He pulled the door open and said, “Get ready for a ridiculously romantic evening, Sunshine.”

Justin smiled his “Sunshine” smile and walked out into the hallway to leave the building. Brian walked back into the suite and flipped open his cell phone to make the arrangements.

* * *

Justin ran to the window when he heard a car horn in front of the building. He looked out and saw Brian parked at the curb in a black 2004 Maserati GranSport Spyder, the convertible top down.

Brian was looking up at Justin through the window, his chestnut brown hair blowing in the slight breeze, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark gray-tinted Armani sunglasses. He stood up on the driver’s seat and held up a bouquet of pink and white lilies.

Justin smiled broadly, ran to the door, and threw it open, quickly locking it behind himself. He had expected Brian at six, so he was dressed and ready to go, wearing his faux leather jacket, a red button-up shirt, dark-washed blue jeans, and black Skechers sneakers.

He quickly ran down the three flights of stairs and flung open the building’s main door, where Brian was standing and waiting for him, flowers in hand. Justin noticed that Brian was dressed down slightly, wearing his Boss leather jacket, a navy blue long-sleeved shirt, steel gray slacks, and black leather shoes.

Justin took the flowers from Brian, and Brian pulled him in for a peck on his cheek. “Good evening, darling,” Brian said with just a hint of sarcasm.

Justin laughed. “Where the fuck did you get this car?”

“I have a friend. It’s ours for the night,” Brian answered, turning to open the passenger door for Justin. After closing the door for him, Brian walked over to his side and let himself in. He cranked over the engine and started driving.

* * *

Justin was in the middle of enjoying his fish and chips at Brendan's Bar and Grill when he said to Brian, “I didn’t think you’d eat at a place like this.”

Brian swallowed a sip of Guinness. “Why not? I’m Irish.”

“I knew that, but after all the fancy and expensive stuff we’ve been eating the past few days, I figured you only ate the finest hoity-toity cuisine,” Justin said as Brian took a bite of his turkey burger.

“Please,” Brian mumbled around his food. “I’m not that big of a snob.” He swallowed and said, “When I’m home, I eat most of my meals at a cheesy diner in the gay neighborhood in town. One of the lunch specials is called 'The Dick of Death'- it’s a foot-long hot dog with creamy cole slaw.”

Justin laughed. “Sounds tasty. So, what show are we going to see?”

“ _Mamma Mia!_  We queens are supposed to love ABBA, right? We could have gone to see  _The Lion King_ , but I figured since you said that Daphne performed in it you’ve probably seen it, and I didn’t know if she was still pissed at me.”

“Yeah, I've only seen the show about a dozen times, since I can get in for free when they're undersold. I talked to her before she left for rehearsal. She’s still a little miffed, but she trusts my judgment. Plus, she can’t afford to pay our rent and utilities on her own.”

“So, that means you still want the job?” Brian asked, hopeful.

Justin licked some tarter sauce off his lips. “Well, what else am I gonna do? Sit and wait in the park for another sexy guy to come up and offer me a thousand dollars for a portrait?”

Brian stared at Justin’s mouth. “Is that the only reason?” he asked in an alluring voice.

“No... I kinda like the guy that owns the place.”

~The End~


End file.
